


You Can Do This

by osointricate



Series: Yours, Mine, & Ours 'verse [2]
Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Animal Attack, Boys Being Idiots, Canon-Typical Violence, Curtain Fic, Fluff, Happy Ending, Kid Fic, M/M, Mentions of child neglect, Rachel-bashing unfortunately, violence involving animals
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-17
Updated: 2016-01-17
Packaged: 2018-05-14 08:22:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 111,844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5736538
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/osointricate/pseuds/osointricate
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"What's it about? Steve and Danny start dating each other, then they start a family, and then they freak out because they realize they are dating each other." -Kono Kalakaua, age 31<br/>"Uncle Steve and Danno are idiots, they are such idiots, they drive me crazy because what the ["Grace Danielle! Watch your language!"] took them so long?" -Grace Williams, age 13<br/>"'Mander and Danno are the best except Daddy is pretty cool too. ("Can they all tie for best?" "Yeah, sure.") They all tie for best." -Charlie Edwards, age 4<br/>"The motorcycle stuff is my favorite part. The rest is just an exercise in frustration because they should have been dating years ago." -Chin Ho Kelly, age redacted<br/>"Turns out I get a happy ending, imagine that." -Nahele Huikala, age 15</p><p>Featuring: Giant sharks, family bonding, a bazooka, frustration, idiot fathers, purple casts, mothers that just don't understand, New Years confetti, and Grace facepalming way more often than she would like it. Rated T for "Throw them in a closet until they make out." "Grace, no."</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> This starts off right when Catherine leaves at the start of season 6. Everything past that canon-wise doesn't exist. 
> 
> [Here is a longwinded author's note on my tumblr.](http://osointricate.tumblr.com/post/137458232972/this-is-a-post-for-my-authors-notes-for-you-can) If you want an explanation for tags, it's there. Also me being wordy and stuff. Also I need to send a major everything to [thispersonisillogical.](thispersonisillogical.tumblr.com) Because she's my favorite person and kept me half-way sane and read everything and basically, it's in the longwinded author's note, but yeah. She's lovely and wonderful and I probably couldn't* have done this without her. 
> 
> *not an exaggeration
> 
> [This is a spotify playlist.](https://open.spotify.com/user/osointricate/playlist/66nva64WtuXSTqx8a9px9j) of a bunch of songs I listened to while I wrote, if you want it. I was told it was a romcom soundtrack to which I replied "what exactly am I writing again?" If you only listen to one of those songs, listen to "Piece by Piece" by Kelly Clarkson and think about Steve. You're welcome.
> 
> Real-Hawaii doesn't have rabies. This fic-Hawaii does. Got it? Good. This is the universe where a nuclear bomb went off just off the coast of Honolulu without any major ramifications. Anything goes.

~~~

_”So, can you tell me when your relationship with Commander McGarrett began, Detective Williams?”_

_“Like… when I met him?”_

_“No, the romantic aspect of your relationship. I am well versed in your history, thanks to your state mandated therapist’s notes.”_

_“…okay. Well, then. I guess it was the week of Hurricane Fiona?”_

_“Hurricane Fiona?”_

_“Yes, Steven, Hurricane Fiona.”_

_“That’s not-“_

_“I believe that the lady asked me, not you.”_

_“Fine. Be my guest!”_

~~~

**The beginning**

~~~

There was a soft, gentle rain dripping down onto the large leaves of the palmgrass planted below the window at the head of the bed. There was a nice, hollow sound of the rain hitting the window too, and it sounded like they were gearing up for the hurricane to hit the windward side and, if the weather reports were true, it would last all weekend. He didn’t really mind, they weren’t worried about flooding just yet. All the preparations had been taken care of days ago, just in case of evacuation. That meant, unless the worst happened, they’d be staying in, watching TV, and making warm and filling foods. Any slight lateness for starting his day could be blamed on the storm. He hadn’t even opened his eyes, taking in the sounds of the early morning.

The easy beat of the ceiling fan he insisted on last night above him (he was regretting it this morning, the cool from the rain settling in around him, forcing him to dig his toes into the sheets, chasing away the chill. Where was the island heat when he needed it?) The uneasy gurgle of the refrigerator from deeper into the house (he knew a big appliance purchase was in his future, but he hoped the thing would last until the end of May because his parents were visiting soon and it would be a huge mess.) The sweet, steady tick of the clock that hung in the living room (tick, tick, tick, went the day, and he hoped it was still early enough he could enjoy the stillness of the morning for a few ticks longer.) The rickety squawk of the lanai door opening and the swell of sound from the ocean and rainstorm from outside (not to mention the lower pitched whine of someone trying to close it slower that made Danny grin and dig his face into the pillow next to his.)

He listened to people walking through the house – two pairs of footsteps heading up the stairs (one of them two at a time) and the other into the bedroom – and the easy click of the bedroom door signaling it being shut behind them. Danny’s grin grew as the bed dipped from the foot, and he could feel Steve crawling up his legs, only to stuff his cold nose just below Danny’s jaw.

He jumped at the cold, rolling a bit and wrapping his arms around the man, pleased to find him shirtless, if not still damp from being outside.

Steve took a deep breath, and then resettled, head lifted, and assumedly looking at Danny. Danny couldn’t be sure; he still had his eyes closed. But the man was wet, cold, and smelled like salt water.

“Good morning,” Steve said.

Danny grinned in response.

Steve pushed forward and stole a kiss. Danny rolled over a bit more, deepening the kiss, sheet and blanket caught up between them.

“You’re wet,” Danny said between lazy kisses.

“No,” Steve argued, and then he rolled his hips against Danny’s good thigh, showing him that a nice pressure growing, going in for another kiss. “I’m hard.”

Danny couldn’t help it, he lost it. A snort into Steve’s cheek, he had to turn away from him laughing. He clung to Steve’s shoulder and back and he laughed.

“Oh gee,” Steve said, placing simple kisses down Danny’s neck, a hand making lazy circles on the hair on his chest. Danny could feel the grin on his mouth against his neck with every peck. “You sure know how to make a man feel good.”

Danny turned back to him, his eyes finally opened, and Steve pulled back from his neck to Danny’s eyes. Danny took the moment to stretch, arching his back, careful of his bad leg, pushing himself up into Steve’s chest, and wiggling his hips, trying to wake his body up. Steve let out a little hum at the action, and Danny grinned as Steve ran his hand down the side of his torso to his hip and contently rested his forehead and nose against Danny’s. Even with a sheet, he was starting to feel the ocean and rain that Steve brought back in from outside on his board shorts and dripping from his hair.  The ceiling fan was sending goosebumps down Danny’s legs.

“You’re changing the sheets,” Danny told him, kissing him softly.

“Sir, yes sir,” Steve said with another grin, leaning down with another soft kiss. “You know, since I’ll be changing the sheets anyway, what do you say we dirty them up a bit?”

Danny snorted again at the ridiculous line, and this time Steve laughed with him. “Was this your plan all along?”

“I am a strategist,” Steve shrugged, pulling a smug face.

“Oh a strategist, huh?” Danny asked, his hand teasing under the waist of Steve’s board shorts. They smiled and Steve nodded and Danny hummed and then scrambled to get the sheets out of the way and Danny was wide awake with Steve’s mouth on his and damp boxers (wet from Steve’s trunks) almost off when-

“Dad!” Came a screech from somewhere upstairs. Both men paused mid kiss, both wondering if it would pass. “Danno! He’s taking a shower during my time again!”

They pulled back and Danny’s head hit the pillow with a huff. “Figure it out!” He yelled back. There was a loud squeal of a huff and what had to be the stamping of a foot. Steve was silently laughing somewhere in the pillow next to him. “You’re not helping!”

“Yelling through the door and up the stairs is helping?” Steve countered. “Where do you think she gets it?” Danny lightly pinched his ass cheek in response, but Steve was already nosing at his neck again, hips rolling in a decidedly strategic way. Danny grinned at the word choice his mind came up with.

“How do you have this much energy?” Danny marveled, pushing the wet shorts down Steve’s thighs. “You went swimming, I presume, in a hurricane – I might add – and now you want to have sex, and I know exactly what you did yesterday, which was lots of running chasing bad guys and then you came home and hauled sandbags, and then staying up all night with-“

“Wow,” Steve interrupted.

“What?”

“I basically signed up to listen to you complain for the rest of my life, didn’t I?”

Danny felt himself grin, warm at the thought that Steve was thinking long term, and content that Danny wasn’t going anywhere. “I’m not complaining about having sex.”

“You were just-“

There was a scream from upstairs this time, followed shortly by a loud crash. They shared wide, worried eyes for half a second before they were both reaching for their clothes. Steve had barely made it back into his board shorts before Danny was already out the door, forgetting his shirt, and pushing through the dull pain in his knee.

They were met at the bottom of the stairs by a wet Nahele wrapped up in a towel coming down the last few steps, indignation clear on his face. “I was taking a shower!”

Grace was a few steps behind him, “You told me to figure it out!”

Nahele turned around to face her. “He meant wait your turn!”

“I’m first in the shower because of my hair!” She countered, “It takes longer!”

“That was before the second bathroom!” He argued again. “If you want the first shower, you got to get there first!”

Danny relaxed where he stood, willing his still tender knee to unwind. It was just the same old bathroom fight again. Steve, however, still seemed high strung.

“Hey hey hey!” Steve tried to settle them. “Stop it! Stop.” Both teenagers settled down and turned to look at him. “What was that crash! Why did you scream?”

“She came into the bathroom and flushed the toilet,” Nahele said. “You know that makes the water icy! I jumped and all her shampoo bottles fell!”

“Danno told me to figure it out!” She paused. “And it’s like four bottles!”

“Try seven, I counted.”

Danny ran a hand over his face before looking over at Steve; he looked frustrated that this was the topic for a fight, yet again, but Danny could only grin. Puberty fueled teenage sibling fights were something he never thought he’d have outside of his two story and stuffed to the brim with siblings childhood, and it was something he never thought Grace would have.

It was not that long ago that he was a walking dictionary picture definition of miserable, and while things had gotten better in the years since he’d moved to Hawaii (don’t tell Steve,) misery had never really lifted off his shoulders, following him around like a personal little rain cloud. Well, at least until…

He glanced up at the clock on the wall in the living room, still steadily ticking away, and then through the kitchen to the outside where it was still very much raining, and he took a deep breath.

~~~

_“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I have to stop you. Why are you starting there?”_

_“Because that’s when it started.”_

_“That’s not when it started.”_

_“Then when exactly did it start, Steven?”_

_“Well.”_

~~~

**When it actually started, Daniel**

~~~

“So Danno says Catherine dumped you,” Grace said as soon as Steve turned the truck engine over. He stalled for a moment, the radio coming to life, playing some soft rock station that was a favorite of Danny’s.

“What?”

Grace only gave him a look.

She had school in the morning, and Danny, Rachel, and Stan were extremely occupied at the hospital this weekend, with Danny’s first procedure and then Charlie’s. It was decided very early on that Grace would be staying with a friend for the weekend. Unfortunately, Lucy came down with some kind of bug at school and the whole Williams-Edwards clan was clamoring around trying to find a solution before Danny went into the OR.

Which was a particularly rough ordeal at the moment, as Grace wasn’t paying attention to anything Rachel said.

“Laura,” Danny said.

“Called her, her mother said no, not after the boxing debacle,” Rachel sighed.

“Boxing debacle?” Danny asked, eyebrow raised towards Grace.

She rolled her eyes. “It was just a little punch, and I had boxing gloves on, and Laura shouldn’t have moved from behind the punching bag!”

Steve grinned.

“Jane whatshername, from Cheer camp?” Stan asked.

“Ew, no,” Grace said with a face. “She makes you comb her hair.”

“Weird,” Danny agreed.

“What about-“ Rachel started.

“I could just stay home alone,” Grace offered, interrupting her mother, and looking hopeful at Danny.

“No,” Four adults said at the same time. Steve had smirked a little when Danny gave him a sweet little look.

“I could stay home from school tomorrow?”

“No,” Rachel and Danny said again.

“Not on the first week of school,” Rachel continued.

“But Danno!” Grace said, acting as if Rachel wasn’t even in the room.

“No buts!” He countered. Steve glanced up briefly at Rachel’s hurt face. For what she was putting Danny through, he felt like she deserved a bit of punishment, but he never thought it would come from the sweetest girl Steve had ever met.

Grace let out a sad sigh, then she and her father shared a quiet moment of silent conversation before, “What about Uncle Steve?”

“We can’t ask him…“ Rachel trailed.

“Of course you can!” Steve said, cutting her off. “She’s stayed in the spare room before, and it’s not like we don’t get along at all.” Sarcasm ran deep in his voice as the two of them shared a smile. “This way she can actually visit her father and brother this weekend.” He winked at her, knowing it had been worrying her all week. She and Danny had had many a conversation on the phone about it in the car on the way to and from crime scenes all week. Grace smirked back at him, and then turned hopeful back to her father. Danny shrugged at Rachel.

That was that.

But right now, Don Henley was singing and Grace was staring at him expectantly in the passenger seat while the car beeped at him insistently to put on his seatbelt.

“Uncle Steve?”

“Yeah?”

“So did she really dump you?”

Steve pulled a face and reached for his seatbelt to shut off the god awful beeping.

“That sucks.”

“Tell me about it.”

“You need a Mope Weekend.”

“A Mope Weekend?” Steve asked. He could hear the capital letters in her voice.

She nodded. “Danno has one every now and then. Usually on the Anniversary.”

“Anniversary?”

She nodded again, “Of the divorce.”

Ahh. Steve bit his lip. “What happens on these Mope Weekends?”

“Well,” She started, picking at her skirt. “I haven’t been there for all of them, but the ones I have been there for we ordered pizza and sat around in pajamas and watched movies and let yourself be sad for a while.”

“Well, you have school in the morning, and it’s already late,” He told her. “Plus, you’ve eaten, and we’re going to stay at your dad’s tonight.”

“Okay,” She shrugged. “Well, tomorrow I’ll come to the Palace after school and try to get as much homework done as I can, and we’ll come back here and check on Danno and Charlie and then we’ll go to your house and swim and eat pizza and watch dad’s favorite movies for A Mope Weekend.”

Steve pretended to think it over for a bit before reaching for the gear shift. “I like this plan.” He felt a small little thrill as Grace smiled widely. “One condition,” He said seriously, foot still on the break. She stared back at him, just as seriously, waiting for what she had to do. “We get pineapple on our pizza because Danno won’t be there to complain about it.”

Her smile came back tenfold. “Deal!”

He sat back happy, turning around to back out of his parking space, Steve sighed in contentment. It had been over two weeks since Catherine had left and he knew he had been walking around stone faced; his friends – especially Danny – had tried to knock him out of it. A trip to the gun rage with Kono, an afternoon of spear fishing with Chin, a Five-0 Family dinner with everyone to cook his catch (beers on Lou); if they weren’t on a case, they were all running around trying to keep him occupied. Nahele was begging for driving lessons (even though he had no problems with grand theft auto the spring before, everyone teased him) and Steve, of course, gave in. Danny had dragged him to the movies (happily, actually,) went surfing with him (surprisingly,) and had convinced him to call his sister (who decided during that phone call she’d be coming for a visit sometime in the next few months.)

They were trying to keep his mind off of everything, and he was thankful, but all he really wanted to do was wallow. Maybe this idea of Grace’s was just what he needed.

“Mum and Stan don’t like pineapple on their pizzas, either,” She said with a little grin. “I only ever get it when I’m with you.”

Steve shook his head, righting the car and putting it in drive. “Mainlanders.”

“I know, right?”

~~~

**That following Monday evening**

~~~

Looking around his home, Steve felt empty. Well, maybe not empty so much as surrounded by too much emptiness. The weekend with Grace had gone a long way to knock him back on his feet after Catherine’s departure, but now the couch was way too big and the sheets Grace had slept on had been washed and all he could hear was the constant crash of waves outside.

This was going to drive him up a wall, having nothing here.

He went out to the garage, looking for something to occupy himself with, having already eaten dinner and caught up on sports center. His father’s car was actually making some headway, what with Nahele stopping by every few days or so and working. There were days Steve would come home and the kid would be outside, covered in grease already, performing touch ups and reinstalling parts.

Today would be no such luck. He had school in the morning. Steve couldn’t just go get him from his foster home for a few hours and make him work on the car with him. Things didn’t work like that.

He couldn’t go get Grace either, as she had already spent four whole days with him (Saturday spent learning some basics about engine upkeep, covered in dust and grime and smiles, and pointedly changing the subject every time Steve brought up Rachel.)

Grabbing a wrench and ignoring a lingering feeling that he was being watched by his father, Steve went to work, trying not to think about how life could be different.

He was alone.

He had to get that through his own head somehow.

~~~

_“Babe…”_

_“…anyway.”_

~~~

**Back to that Friday**

~~~

Steve had already warned the rest of Five-0 that he was on Grace Duty all weekend, so if they had a case come in, they’d be a man down for most of it. (He’d, in a heartbeat, be their back up if they needed it, but the three of them were happy to pick up slack for a few days.) Friday morning though, after breakfast with Grace at her favorite diner, talking about anything and everything from Apane to her first week of school to a special project that would take all semester to goarding Steve into thinking about letting a bunch of her friends come spend the night out on the beach in his backyard at some point… Steve walked into headquarters feeling more refreshed than he had in weeks. Grace had never been a burden to him, and she certainly wasn’t one now.

There was a very, very small part of Steve that wondered if Lucy was even sick and that this was Grace’s attempt to cheer him up.

Whatever, he’d take it, even if it was.

“Hey, he’s smiling!” Lou said as he started towards his office. Kono turned around from the table and Steve knew when she wasn’t on a case, she was working to find Gabriel. They had all made it a priority. They had all had made Wo Fat a priority for him for so long, Steve was more than ready to catch the bastard for Chin and Kono.

“Hey Boss,” Kono greeted, her eyes a bit darker than they had been just a few months earlier, but smiling warmly all the same. “How’d Danny do?”

He smiled, “Grace called him this morning, everything went well, complaining about his back already like the old man that he is.” Kono and Lou both chuckled. “Charlie is being prepped tonight and will go into surgery tomorrow. I want to swing by at lunch, bring him food.”

Lou let out a deep breath. “What that man goes through makes me grateful that the most Logan’s ever dealt with is chronic sinus infections.”

Steve nodded, thinking about a little three year old he’d only met a handful of times. Floppy blond hair like Danny and dimples like Grace. Steve wished he could do more.

“You’re taking care of Grace though,” Kono said. Steve looked up suddenly. He must have spoken out loud, or maybe Danny was right and he had a face and his team just knew him. “You are doing a lot brah.”

Not wanting to get into it, he crossed his arms and changed the subject. “Where’s Chin?”

Lou and Kono shared a saccharine look before turning back to him.

“What?”

“Jerry has something.”

~~~

_“Do you see now? This is why this is when it began.”_

_“You went so far back!”_

_“Well you skipped some things.”_

_“Yeah and now you’re saying things started way back when.”_

_“…didn’t they though? Not just the case, that's when things started to feel different.”_

_“Then by all means, babe.“_

_“Thank you.”_

~~~

Jerry was always right. Steve had to keep telling himself that, because honestly some of the things Jerry came up with were so out of left field it made his head spin. More than once he found himself turning to his right and looking down, hoping to share a look of support with Danny.

“You’re saying that the string of wild dog attacks on the North Shore are actually… what? Distractions for some kind of criminal element you have yet to identify?”

“Yeah,” Jerry said with conviction. The others all looked to Steve to take the lead.

Jerry was always right.

“Okay, show us what you’ve got,” Steve said. “This will be your first official case on the payroll, Jerry. Let’s make it good.”

Jerry lit up, ready to go, and seeing his friend happy was a nice feeling too. He was always happy for that feeling, that feeling to b-

_”To be needed.”_

Steve felt his face fall at the memory of Catherine, but Jerry was already throwing his research up on the monitors, and Steve turned all his attention away from his front porch to Jerry.

“Over the last several months, there have been seventeen dog attacks and threats on civilians, ten of which left people injured, which is a bit of a high number anyway, but what made me notice was that most of the people that got bit had be treated for early signs of rabies.”

“Rabies,” Lou said. “Okay, Family trip to the North Shore next week canceled.”

Everyone smiled.

“I would,” Jerry said.

“You know we don’t do animal control, right Jer?” Kono asked.

“Wait for it,” Chin said.

Jerry took a deep breath, and Steve smirked at his obvious desire to impress.

“The first couple of attacks line up a couple days after a dog fighting ring was broken up by HPD near Pupukea. Reports from that day state that thirty seven dogs were taken in, but the owners had opened a few of the cages to let some of the dogs out to distract HPD. Not all the dogs were found, so I wouldn’t look at those first few attacks, plus, the one vic had to get stitches from the first attack didn’t suffer from rabies.”

“Where were we for all this?” Steve asked, swiping though photos of the dog ring raid. “Five-0 usually gives back up on compound raids like this for HPD.”

Jerry looked at him. “I believe Detective Williams was in Colombia.”

“Ah,” Steve said, biting his lip, yet another topic he really didn’t want to think about. “Well, the pack could have contacted rabies in the wild since.”

“True,” Jerry said. “But, of the thirty seven dogs that were taken in, about half of them were put down and deemed too dangerous, unfortunately. The other half have been, or are currently being rehabilitated.”

“Well that’s good,” Kono said.

“Yeah man, we’re lucky Danny isn’t here,” Steve said. “He loves dogs.”

“Well, starting with the forth attack, which is where I think the pattern changes,” He pulled up a couple of screens. “Six of the dogs that had been rehabilitated and given a clean bill of health found new homes within a few weeks. Two of them were dogs involved in attacks on civilians later.”

Lou shrugged. “Dogs get out. Dogs get out all the time.”

“Also true, but I think those first few attacks don’t matter because they were just inspiration for the new bad guys,” Jerry said, pulling up a new screen of information. Missing person reports. Dread filled Steve’s stomach. There had to be half a dozen of them, all female, young, Asian, with long, brown hair, not a one of them over thirty. “The days they’ve gone missing all coincide with a dog attack; all last known whereabouts were at random and populated places on the North Shore.”

Chin ran a hand over his mouth and Steve watched as he eyed Kono. One of those girls on that screen could have been Kono’s double a few years ago.

“Unfortunately, I haven’t figured out a pattern much beyond that yet.”

“So,” Steve started. “What do we know about these girls? Six missing in as so many months, looking so much alike, missing in the same area? Even if you’re off on the dogs, that’s worth paying attention to.”

Jerry and Chin both nodded their agreement.

“That’s why I told him it was time to present this to us,” Chin said.

“You thinking serial killer, Boss?”

Steve shrugged.

“I was thinking human trafficking,” Said Jerry with wide eyes. “But I don’t know what’s worse.”

“Well, either way, it can’t hurt to take a look at some missing persons cases while we don’t have anything else up on the board,” Lou said.

“And Gabriel has been in the wind for weeks now,” Kono said, a rough edge to her statement. Chin shuffled on his feet, obviously just as troubled.

“We’ll find him,” Steve sighed. “We’ll keep a constant eye out for him and his business, unless this takes off, he’s still our most wanted. In the meantime, let’s get to work. This was quite a stretch to make the connection. Good work, Jerry.”

Jerry smiled, proud and happy, and Steve looked to his right, ‘told you so’ face at the ready. Danny had argued that if they gave a mouse a cookie he’d want a glass of milk, but Jerry hadn’t been wrong yet. He was met with empty space and it threw him for a minute.

Then his phone rang.

~~~

Nahele met him at the end of the street with a wide smile. Steve had worked hard, making friends and promising favors to several different social workers to get his kid in an actual foster home instead of a group home. He had never told Steve exactly what had happened at the group home he was at, but whatever it was it drove the boy to the streets so that was the last place Steve wanted him.

Luckily, there was a foster home willing to take him only a few blocks from Steve’s home. Nahele had been a regular on Steve’s beach and in Steve’s garage and in Steve’s kitchen all summer. Steve’s ‘maybe once every two weeks’ grocery shopping had been upped to ‘every week’ and even then Steve was finding himself making runs more and more often. He didn’t mind.

After Catherine had left…

Well.

The guys at Five-0 weren’t the only ones trying to keep him occupied.

“You sure you can spare a few hours for me, Commander?” He asked, still standing outside Steve’s truck.

“For you?” Steve asked. “I could spare a whole lot more.”

Nahele smiled wide again.

“Just know I am on call today, okay?”

“That’s cool.”

“Your foster father know you’re going with me?” Steve had met the old man twice, once the day after Nahele moved in, and the second time when he picked Nahele up for fireworks on the 4th. Both times he seemed strict and meticulous and once Steve told him he was Five-0, didn’t mind his involvement with the boy. Nahele had told Steve that the man had a list of rules a mile long, his wife had a list that was at least two miles long, and Nahele even had to turn in his cell phone at night.

Of all the rules that was the one Nahele complained about the most, so Steve figured it was a pretty good home. Especially if Nahele’s smile was anything to go by.

He nodded, buckling up. “He wanted to go, but they got a new kid last night. An infant born two days ago. Little guy cried all night.”

“Mmm,” Steve hummed. “Just what you need right before you start at a new school, huh? A screaming baby keeping you up?”

Nahele smiled. “It’s okay. At least he has a roof, ya’ know?”

Steve sobered at that. This kid had already been through too much.

Today was orientation at Nahele’s new school, and it just happened to be Steve’s alma mater, Kukui High School. Steve was actually kind of excited about showing him around. Paranoia almost made him ask Nahele if asking Steve to go with him was someone else’s idea. Someone blond and five-foot-five and currently blowing up his cell phone with food requests because hospital food was _“excruciating, Steven. Excruciating.”_

Nahele bounced a little bit in the passenger seat as they pulled up and parked.

“Are you excited?”

“Is it lame to say yes?”

“No.”

“Then yes,” He said. “I always liked school. Even if I’m a year behind now.”

“Hey,” Steve said. “I saw your last semester transcript. You’re a smart kid.”

He rolled his eyes. “I was the foster kid who was homeless. I was pitied.” He took a deep breath. “I don’t want anyone to know that about me here.” He looked out the windshield towards the school with determination Steve really hadn’t seen on the boy before. “I want a fresh start.”

Steve gripped Nahele’s shoulder, “Then that’s what you’re going to get.”

Nahele smiled again and Steve was growing quite fond of that smile.

He turned back to the school and Steve watched as something else mixed in with the excitement on the boy’s face.

“Are you nervous?” Steve asked.

Nahele glanced at him quickly before turning back down to his hands.

Steve gripped the boy’s shoulder, “You can do this.”

Nahele took a deep, steadying breath, and nodded.

After that they made their way in, and Nahele picked up a class schedule, ( _“Three advanced classes, look at you!” “It’s not that big of a deal.” “It’s still impressive.”_ ) and checked the bus routes, ( _“Now if you ever miss the bus, you call me. We’re close enough; I can get you to school.” “Alright.”_ ) and Nahele posed for an ID lanyard, ( _“Smile!” “Yeah, smile!” “Shut up Commander!” “Aww, he likes you,”_ Steve leaned down and told the student volunteer who promptly blushed and looked at Nahele in a new light. _“Commander!”_ ) and Steve may or may not have spent some money on some school supplies emblazoned with the school logo while Nahele had gone to the bathroom, ( _“I don’t need an agenda!” “If you’re taking three advanced classes, you do.” “I have pencils!” “Yeah, but these are refillable ones!” “I definitely didn’t need a t-shirt!” “Who says no to a free t-shirt?”_ )

Steve helped him find his classrooms, ( _“I think I had English in here.”_ ) and his locker, (Nahele didn’t know how to work the lock, and Steve patiently taught him how) showed him around, (and teased him a bit more about the girl at the lanyard table) and found comfort that not all that much about this place had changed, really, except the new sciences wing, which Steve found himself extremely jealous of.

Then his phone buzzed again and it was Danny demanding lunch because they were threatening him with “meatloaf surprise” and _“Steven please. Do not subject me to this. I checked with Kono, you don’t have a case, bring me something greasy.”_

“Hey Nahele,” He called out. Nahele turned, inspecting something in one of the trophy cases. “You want to go with me to see Danny?”

He shrugged. “Sure. Is this you?” He pointed into the trophy case.

“Oh no,” Steve groaned, walking up. Sure enough, there he was, baby faced and in his red uniform. “Yep, that’s me.” Then he pointed to another photo, a few frames down. “That one’s Chin.”

Nahele paused for a bit, biting his lip. Steve didn’t pressure him. “You wouldn’t be upset if I didn’t play football, would you?”

“What?” Steve asked. “Nah. Do you want to play football?”

“Not really. I like playing catch, and I like watching it. Maybe you can take me to a game or two?”

Steve leaned in with a smirk. “Maybe you can take that girl from the lanyard table to a game or two.”

Nahele rolled his eyes and then dramatically turned away, “Oh my god! Let’s go!”

Steve laughed as he followed him. They past a woman and her daughter as they left, and she gave Steve a warm smile and a nod of solidarity, like she thought he was a parent. He had been getting those looks from other parents all day, and tried not to put too much into them.

Nahele wasn’t his son, no matter how nice it was to think about.

~~~

_“You were too hard on yourself.”_

_“Yeah, well.”_

~~~

“I asked for greasy.”

“Oh,” Steve started, pulling up a chair next to Danny’s hospital bed and resting his arms next to Danny’s legs. “You mean you’re thankful you don’t have to eat meatloaf surprise? Yeah, I thought you would be.”

“I wanted beef with bacon and cheese and a sesame seed bun. I would not have said no to fries, either.”

“I know that Grace worries about what you eat, so as the responsible adult in her life this weekend, I am making sure that her worries aren’t quadrupled when she learns her father ate a bacon cheeseburger right after a major surgery.”

“‘Responsible adult.’” Danny scoffed. “This is a shrimp salad from Kamekona’s!” He said, putting the food on his little bed tray.

“Yeah.”

“Steven.”

“What? I got the fried shrimp instead of the grilled; I thought you’d be thankful.”

“Cheeseburger,” He responded, drawing out the word while Steve rolled his eyes.

“Kamekona gave him a discount because you’re in the hospital,” Nahele ratted him out.

Danny’s face lit up, and Steve groaned.

“Traitor,” Steve grinned up at him.

“I see how it is,” Danny said, arms already waving. “Cheapskate.”

“Hey, salad is good for you.”

“Not after I do this!” Danny said, pulling open the container, and pouring some kind of thick, creamy dressing all over it with glee.

“Now excuse me, where did that dressing come from! He was supposed to get the olive oil stuff!”

“The olive oil stuff is ridiculous and should not be marketed as a salad dressing.”

“It’s a vinaigrette.”

“No, a vinaigrette requires it to actually be edible.”

“It is edible.”

“Maybe to cows and weird subspecies of humans called SEALs, but not to humans from New Jersey.”

“Oh, goodness, then explain your daughter because she loves the stuff.”

“Because you,” He pointed, at him with his fork, “and this island,” He waved the fork around in a circle, “have brainwashed her.”

Nahele smiled, standing at the end of the bed, eyes going back and forth between them, looking ten types of pleased. “I knew you liked the thousand island stuff so I made sure it was in there when Steve wasn’t looking.”

Danny lit up again, as Steve looked hurt.

“Oh!” Danny said happily, laughing a bit. “I like him.” Steve shook his head and grinned up at Nahele again. “I like you, you’re sticking around.” Then back to Steve. “We’re keeping him. We’re keeping you.”

“Not if he doesn’t play along,” Steve teased. Nahele smiled.

“Oh no,” Danny said. “He keeps the playing field even. We need him.”

“Yeah yeah.”

“So,” Danny started, first bite in his mouth. “How was orientation?”

“I knew it!” Steve said.

“What?” They both asked innocently.

“Neither of us said we were at orientation. That was you distracting me!” Steve accused him. Nahele pulled a face, glancing quickly at Danny. “I can’t believe it! You ganged up on me!”

“I was actually really glad you were there!” Nahele said, earnestly. “I would have had to go alone, otherwise.” He turned to Danny. “He bought me a t-shirt.”

“You know I was happy to go,” Steve told him as Danny made an approving face towards the kid and his t-shirt. Then he turned to Danny. “You can call off the babysitter brigade, though, okay?”

“Steve…”

“I mean it, Danny!”

“We’re all just worried, okay?”

“That’s… that’s fine! But I’m okay, okay?”

Then Nahele’s phone rang, dissipating the growing awkwardness of the room.

“It’s my foster-mother, I’ll just,” He pointed to the door and stepped outside.

Danny sat down his fork, licked his lips, and took a deep breath.

“Sorry, Danny,” Steve said. “I am very thankful for everything. I just. I need to wallow too.”

Danny smiled. “I am good at wallowing. I can wallow. I can commiserate. I am a pro at commiseration.”

“'Commiseration?'”

“Yeah.”

“I’m doing a Mope Weekend with your daughter.” Steve narrowed his eyes towards Danny. “Whom I’m assuming is another babysitter.”

Danny held up his hands. “Lucy really did get sick. It was fate! But a Mope Weekend, huh? You know they were Matty's creation.”

“Yeah. She told me all about it last night. She says you do it every year.”

“I didn’t do it last year.”

“No?”

Danny shook his head, his face falling, and began picking at his salad with his fork again. “I didn’t need to. I had other things on my plate.”

All the things that had filled the last year with struggle and pain went unmentioned between them, but they both knew as the weight of it all filled the room. Steve reached out and gripped Danny’s wrist. Danny shook it, sliding his hand down, and took Steve’s hand in his. They squeezed their palms together in silent support.

This was new between them, it started sometime when the nuclear bomb exploded behind them and the helicopter jostled and made concerning beeping noises. Danny closed his eyes and laughed through his tears and didn’t realize he was grasping Steve’s hand until Steve needed it back to land. Holding hands in tense moments had become a thing between them ever since, those few weeks Catherine was around aside. (And really, that should have been Steve’s first clue.)

“I really do like Nahele,” Danny confessed.

“Yeah, me too,” Steve said, grinning towards the door.

“You thought anymore about fostering him?” Danny dropped his voice.

Steve looked back to him and shrugged. “We got him placed in a home. He seems happier. I was only going to do that if they couldn’t find him a home.”

Danny was quiet for a moment. “I think maybe you should still get certified. In case something happens.”

“You think?”

Danny nodded. “I think it would devastate you if something happened to him and you could have done something about it.”

Steve chewed on his lip, and lowered his gaze. He realized they were still holding hands, but didn’t move to take his hand away.

Danny stabbed at the salad again. “I am tired of watching you lose people you care about.”

Steve decided not to linger too long on the swarm of emotions that made him feel. Images of faces and last words shared and guilt and grief and fear and loneliness mixed up together with fondness and protectiveness and awe he was pretty sure was for Danny all swimming around somewhere just above his stomach and just below his throat. It was just too much so instead he focused on Danny taking a bite of his salad, getting a bit of dressing caught on the side of his mouth.

He chuckled, trying to ignore how dropping Danny’s hand to reach for a napkin only made the swarm ache. “You know, if the nurse finds out I brought you contraband, I won’t be allowed back in here.” He offered the napkin to Danny, motioning to his mouth.

“This wouldn’t have been a problem if you had just brought me my cheeseburger.”

“Yeah but then it would have been ketchup.”

“How many times do I have to tell you ‘don’t put ketchup on a hamburger!’”

~~~

_“So, Commander, you’d say that you’re relationship with Nahele started before your romantic relationship with Detective Williams.”_

_“Please, call me Danny.”_

_A grin._

_“Uh… yeah. He had stolen my car the February before. You have his file, right? It’s all in there.”_

_“You took in a kid that stole your car?”_

_A laugh._

_“Yeah. I guess I did.”_

_“So you… helped him?”_

_“Yeah, he does that.”_

_“You like that about me.”_

_“I do, actually.”_

_A smile._

_“Please, elaborate, Detective.”_

_“Uh… Danny, please, we’re going to be seeing a whole lot of each other... and uh-“_

~~~

**A while ago**

~~~

The thing about Steve McGarrett is he really doesn’t do things by halves. He either plays guitar, or he doesn’t. He joins the Navy; he becomes a SEAL. He leaves Hawaii; he doesn’t come back (except for a few dockings that were out of his hands) for over two decades. Mary tells him to leave her alone one day when she’s nineteen; he doesn’t talk to her again until she’s twenty nine and she reaches out. “We’re not dating, Steve,” becomes “we will never date.” “How long do you want me to stay,” becomes dropping way too much money on a flashy rock.

So really, Danny should have seen this coming.

Danny encouraged it, even. Thought it would be good for him. Thought it would be good to have the schedule that came with having a kid. The constant of having someone there and in his life and depending on him every day; it’s what Steve needed.

A fifteen year old Nahele was wonderful. He settled into Steve’s life like he was always supposed to have been there. He ate Steve’s food, and watched his TV, and liked to surf and swim, he was smart, quick witted, and looked at Steve like he was honored Steve would even glance at him.

Which was why Steve was good for him, too. He was in a dangerous situation, always on the cusp of being left behind and forgotten. Nahele didn’t have anyone. Steve knew what that was like, to be fifteen and have a father that let you down and a mother that died and having a million feelings and not wanting to feel a single one of them.

He and Steve got along, there was that whole car issue thing that Danny would never, ever, ever, let drop, but they shared that. New, good memories would surround a piece of junk that did nothing but cause his friend way too much grief and guilt every time it broke down. It was good. Nahele was a solidifying presence in Steve’s life, a source of goodness and light, and Danny wanted nothing more for his friend than his friend’s happiness and he wanted nothing more for Nahele than for him to be somewhere safe, somewhere he was loved.

So of course Danny encouraged the crap out of it. It really was a win-win situation.

The one month old infant was not Danny’s doing.

~~~

_“Nahele’s social worker has a note that the Whittaker family was Nahele’s last foster family. What did you think of them?”_

_“They are actually becoming pretty good friends of ours.”_

_“Really?”_

_“Yeah, they are good people; they were just… ready for the next stage in their life, like we were. Well, I was. I guess I was finally catching up with Danny. But they are still around, they come to dinner with the extended family a lot, and they watch the kids if we need some extra hands for a few hours. Real helpful with Daisy – our nanny – during her midterms and finals. They’re good people.”_

_“What do you mean, ‘next stage of their life?’”_

_“Well, they were getting older. I guess they started realizing that after Rita had her fall. Steve and I were there to help, thank goodness.”_

~~~

**About two weeks after Nahele’s orientation and Charlie’s transplant**

~~~

Danny had never met the Whitakers. They were Nahele’s foster parents, and all he knew about them was _“they have so many rules”_ and _“Mr. Whitaker likes to take care of his lawn.”_ Steve had met them more than once, and both he and Nahele seemed to like the elderly couple, so Danny was worried the moment Nahele called him.

“Nahele?” He answered the phone. “What’s wrong?” Grace looked up from her dinner with worry.

 _“Steve’s flight hasn’t landed yet; can you come to my house?”_ He asked quietly, sounding frazzled and worried.

“Of course, are you safe?” Danny was already grabbing his wallet and his keys, his mind going to the worst case scenario. Grace was up from the table, sensing the change and grabbing her bag and then slipping herself into shoes, looking hopeful. He frowned, holding up a finger to signal her to wait. She made a face; he raised his eyebrows. If there was danger, he didn’t want Grace anywhere near that.

“Nahele?”

 _“Yes, sorry,”_ He said quickly. Danny motioned to Grace that she could go, and they were out the door. _“It’s Mrs. Whitaker, she fell, and they don’t want to call an ambulance because of the cost, and they don’t want to leave us here alone while they go to the emergency room.”_

“Oh,” Danny sighed a bit of relief. “Okay. Well, I’m on my way, you keep calling Steve, okay? He’ll want to know.”

 _“Okay, Danny,”_ Nahele had said. Then his voice went soft. _“Thank you.”_

“Don’t even mention it, kid,” Danny told him, sliding into the car. “You’re pretty much Steve’s kid.” He grinned over at Grace, who was buckling herself in. “That means there’s not much I wouldn’t do for you.”

He winked at Grace and she grinned back at him. Then she kind of rolled her eyes and shook her head and made a face that had ‘Kono Kalakaua’ written all over it. Danny didn’t know what to make of that.

Mr. Whittaker reminded Danny of his Uncle Bill. Spry, bright eyes, thin, white hair, and wrinkles around his eyes that told Danny he smiled often.

He wasn’t smiling right now, though, all his attention on his wife, who was sitting very still on the couch in their front room, with tight lips and a vague aura of ‘I am very much in pain.’ There were two girls, a few years younger than Grace, standing nearby, very obviously worried too.

“He’s Steve’s partner,” Nahele introduced them. They shook hands. “And this is his daughter, Grace.”

Grace waved a hello, he smiled kindly in return.

“You really should have called an ambulance,” Danny told him as they finished shaking hands.

“Oh it’s not that bad,” Mrs. Whittaker said from the couch. “It just hurts a lot.”

Mr. Whittaker glared in the direction of his wife. Danny understood that look intimately. He wore it often around Steve.

“Do you really not mind staying here?” He asked Danny.

“Of course not!” Danny answered honestly.

“I got ahold of Steve, he’ll be here soon too,” Nahele tried to placate him. “Straight from the airport.”

Mr. Whittaker let out a big sigh, thanked Danny for coming on such short notice, and then Danny helped them out to the car and sent them off just as Steve pulled up, looking drained and jet lagged.

“What happened?”

Danny gave him a look and then the two of them spent the evening making sure the Whittaker’s three foster kids and Grace were all fed and had done their homework and brushed their teeth and didn’t watch too much television ( _“it’s a rule Mr. Steve!”_ ) and Grace settled herself down on the couch and was reading a book for school.

The fourth foster-kid, Jack, was the easiest of the bunch by far.

There was a chart on the fridge, saying when he should eat and sleep and wake up. It was down to a science. ( _“Mrs. Whittaker says that she’s helped enough babies get started that she knows what to do easy, Mr. Danny.”_ ) The rest of the kids were eating mac and cheese that Danny made and the sandwiches that Steve threw together when Danny went upstairs to retrieve Jack.

Jack was only a few weeks old, tiny, and really didn’t want to wake up just yet. He fought it, comfortable in Danny’s arms and his soft blanket.

Danny’s mind immediately went to Charlie. The image of his son, screaming and covered in goop in the hospital room… only to be in the hospital again three years later under such unfair circumstances. Danny missed years of his son’s life. Missed his little nose (it was his, after all) and learning how to use his hands and missed his first steps and first words… So many firsts.

Looking down at little Jack, Danny smiled. This little guy was adorable and sleepy and Danny briefly wondered how he ended up in the system, as cute as he was. He leaned down, smelling him. He used to love that smell with Grace. Baby powder and clean soap and new baby smell. He missed it with Charlie.

Jack kicked at the attention, turning a bit into Danny’s chest, and yawning. Danny smiled wide again. How incredibly simple this little life was, simple, complicated, and amazing. He was hit with a very potent wave of protectiveness for the little boy, not quite sure where it came from.

Danny held him closer to him, readjusting him, and started heading towards the door, only to stop once he realized they had an audience. Steve was standing in the doorway, a soft, fond look on his face.

“What?” Danny asked.

It took a moment, a long moment, before something flittered across Steve’s face that Danny couldn’t quite identify. Steve shook his head and the face was gone.

“Nothing,” He very obviously lied. Then he held up a little bottle. “Is he ready?”

~~~

**That next spring**

~~~

“What made you want to adopt Jack in the first place?”

“Well,” Steve said, crossing his legs, adjusting his wine glass on the coaster, at Clara and Eddie’s 40th anniversary party. “I usually say ‘he needed a place to live and then I fell in love with him,’ and that is true, but…”

“But what?”

“The first time I saw him he was rubbing his face into Danny’s chest and Danny just had this smile on his face…”

The two women, both looking so much like Danny, one blonde, the other brunette, shared a look of fondness as Steve got lost in the memory.

Steve shrugged, “He looked up at me, Danny, I mean, he looked up at me and it was like. I knew. Whatever way it was supposed to be, Jack was supposed to be in my life.”

“Just Jack?”

Steve smiled, and tried fruitlessly to hide his blush. “Yeah, well.”

~~~

_“I didn’t know that.”_

_“Your sisters made me realize that’s what happened.”_

_A sweet smile._

_A joining of hands._

_“I’m sorry, you said that you got off a plane? Where were you?”_

_“Oh, uh…”_

~~~

**Where Steve was**

~~~

This had to be one of the hardest weekends of Steve’s life. Top ten, at least, beating out that one time in the Hungarian winter mission when they were literally eating snow to survive while they waited for rescue.

Mary had called him a few days before; Aunt Deb had taken a turn for the worse. Earlier this summer, they were told as long as she didn’t have any more spells and took it easy, she was looking at a couple years’ worth of a comfortable life. But she had a nasty spell, spent a few days in the hospital, and she only had a few months left.

His little sister was a bit of a wreck. He really didn’t blame her; he wasn’t much better.

Deb had decided to sell her home in California since Leonard had passed last Spring, and Mary couldn’t handle it all and called Steve, and so here Steve was, packing up a living woman’s house like she was already gone.

“Be sure to take whatever you want,” Deb had told them with a gentle smile in the hospital. “Sell what you can, then donate the rest.” Which set Mary off again, and Steve went after her.

They ended up very, very drunk that first night, drinking up Aunt Deb’s liquor cabinet full of brandy and reminiscing about their younger years.

“I’m sorry I didn’t stay closer with you,” Steve confessed to her on the couch.

“It’s a two-way street, bro,” She laid her head on his shoulder. “It’s just going to be us, soon.”

“You’ve got Joan,” Steve said sadly.

“Yeah,” Mary said with a grin. “Thank God for my Joanie. You don’t got anyone.”

Steve bit his lip, his mind immediately on Nahele’s and Grace’s wide smiles. They weren’t his kids. Not really. Besides, Danny’s efforts to keep him occupied the last few weeks have been proof enough he wouldn’t be alone-alone.

“Oh my god, I’m sorry!” Mary said, turning to him, her hand over her mouth. “I forgot about what just happened with Catherine!”

“That’s okay,” He brushed it off. “I’m just… I got Danno.”

Mary snorted.

“Shut up.”

Mary snorted again.

“Mom’s still alive?” Steve said, a bit unsurely, wanting to change the subject.

“Sure,” Mary sighed, after another sip of her brandy. “The mom that faked her death when I was ten, showed up after twenty years, and then left again to go off and play spy after half a phone call. She’s great.”

Steve laughed at that, and then Mary laughed, and then they found a box of Christmas decorations, and then they cried.

Steve blamed the brandy.

After the hospital, and the announcement that Deb wanted to pack the house, he ended up staying most of the week, to help with the house, to help Deb and Mary decide what was next, to spend some much needed time with Joan. She had gotten so much bigger and honestly video text messages and facebook posts only did so much. Steve was missing out on his niece’s life. There were some not so subtle hints that it was probably safe to come back to Hawaii if Mary ever thought about it from Steve, and some not so subtle hints that that sounded like a nice plan from Deb.

He could only imagine how he’d feel if it was his own kid.

Oh, how often his mind went to Danny. Danny would send texts and he’d call every day, and he’d sit back from a box full of photographs (packed up, to be sent to Hawaii) and he’d be wanting Danny there, if only to distract him for a few minutes.

“Have you gone through Daddy’s things yet?” Mary had asked him, folding clothes for donation in the dining room.

“Nah,” He answered. “Mom stayed in that room when she was around, but… other than that, that room has stayed closed. The bathroom gave me the fits a few weeks back too.”

Deb perked up from her chair with Joan and a book, where she was supposed to be taking it easy. “You haven’t gone through your father’s things? Oh honey, it’s been years.”

Steve shrugged. “I couldn’t at first. And then I had to, with his desk. I couldn’t see it every day. But that was…” He trailed off. “Danny helped me with that. I just haven’t gone in his room. There hasn’t been a reason to.”

“Maybe we’ll do that when I come visit?” Mary asked.

Steve met her eyes and nodded. “I’d like that.”

Deb had announced that she was going to take another cruise, after her last one had rejuvenated her, with what was left in her savings ( _“after funeral costs, of course”_ to which both siblings huffed and sighed and refused to talk about) and, because she wasn’t allowed to fly, they searched and searched until they found one that made port in Honolulu.

“This will be my last trip,” She said, as Steve talked to the people at the cruise line about how she’d be getting off and staying off. “I want it to be good.”

“Ooh,” Mary said, looking at the website. “There’s a formal dinner party.”

“Oh goodness, what will I wear?”

So Mary and Deb went out shopping for a fancy new dress while Steve watched Joan and called Danny.

 _“How you doing, babe?”_ Danny’s voice was soft and sweet. It would be mid-morning for him, so he was probably sitting in his office. The image of him ran through Steve’s head, leaning back in his chair, wearing a serious face. It took a moment to get it right in his head; Danny hadn’t worn a tie to work in years, and yet Steve’s mental image of the man still had him wearing one.

“This is hard,” Steve admitted, from the kitchen, eyes on Joan through the doorway.

 _“Yeah,”_ Danny commiserated. Steve smiled at that. _“How’s Mary doing?”_

“This is hard on her too.”

_“Yeah.”_

“I’m just glad Joan is a bit too little to really understand,” He said, eyes on her, sitting in front of the TV watching something she called ‘Uncle Steve’s Universe.’ Mary had assured him that the main character was named Steve and Joan had clung to it from the get go.

_“So what’s the plan?”_

“Well, Mary’s staying here in the house until we get it on the market, and then Deb is going to take a long cruise, and she’s rented a condo on Oahu. Mary’s going back to New York after that but she said she’s going to come a little bit before Thanksgiving and try to stay until… Depending on how Deb’s cruise goes.”

_“She’s coming to Hawaii for the…”_

“Yeah,” Steve cut him off. He knew it was coming, but he still didn’t want to hear it. “She says she wants to be near my dad and grandparents. I kind of don’t blame her. That was always in my Will in the Navy. To be buried on Oahu.”

 _“Please don’t talk about that,”_ Danny sighed. Steve smirked. Good to know Danny still cared.

“So, distract me. How’s work?”

He heard Danny sigh, and then a ruffle around that told Steve he was adjusting in his chair. _“Jerry’s dog attack thing might have some merit.”_

“Oh yeah?”

_“Yeah, another dog attack this morning, North Shore, but the dog was from a different shelter.”_

“Let’s see if anyone goes up missing.”

 _“Yeah, let’s hope not,”_ Danny said. _“Otherwise, it’s been really, oddly, quiet. Like, I’m tempted to call up HPD and have them give us a B &E or something.”_

“Oh, desperate, then.”

_“It’s probably because you aren’t on the island, trouble has just stopped without you there to witness it and disrupt my day.”_

“Hey, we do serious cases, it’s not my fault that I catch them before anyone else!”

 _“Yeah, yeah whatever.”_ Then, with a hint of worry. _Kono’s looking a bit rough, with nothing to do.”_

 _‘And no leads on Gabriel,’_ Went unspoken.

“Well, I’ll be home on Friday,” Steve said. “Maybe I can talk her into taking me surfing this weekend.”

_“You can’t keep up with her, babe.”_

“Okay, no. But. She’d go easy on me if there was someone there who was new to the waves.”

Danny was silent for a bit. _“Don’t make me volunteer my daughter, Steven.”_

“I was talking about you and maybe Nahele, but okay.”

 _“Yeah, yeah,”_ He said. _“She needs a break. I’ll suffer Camp Surf Like Kono for a smile from her, I swear.”_

“Grace can come too, you know,” Steve said, something in his chest doing flips at the thought of Danny wiping out just to hear Kono laughing.

 _“She probably will,”_ Danny told him. _“She and her mom had another round on the phone this morning.”_

“Oh goodness,” Steve said, pulling a chair out from the dining table and sitting with a plop. “Tell me everything.”

~~~

_“I’m so sorry, Commander. When did she pass?”_

_“Just after Thanksgiving. It was really hard that year, with Mary.”_

_“Condolences.”_

_“Thank you.”_

_“Alright, we got off topic. Let’s go back to the beginning with you again, Commander.”_

_A deep, steadying breath. A hand squeezing another._

_“Right.”_

~~~

**The beginning, again**

~~~

“I don’t remember eighth grade having this much homework,” Chin said, staring at the pile of books Grace had plopped down at the back table Friday afternoon, the one reserved for packing ammo and cleaning guns, making herself at home.

“I do,” Kono commiserated. “Eighth grade was a hard year for me. It was when I was getting attention and offers for surfing and hanging out with the older surfers. My parents had a hell of a time getting me into a classroom and off of the waves. Homework always seemed to be getting in the way.”

Grace smiled.

“Don’t go giving her any ideas,” Steve said, covering Grace’s ears.

Grace rolled her eyes. “That doesn’t work when Danno does it, it doesn’t work when you do it.”

“Still.”

Grace shrugged. “I think it’s the private school thing.”

“The what?”

“All the homework. Lucy’s a public school kid and she doesn’t have this much homework, ever. I mean, when am I going to need to know the length arc of the sector of a circle or whatever.”

“Mortar rounds,” Steve said, picking up a worksheet with a serious face. “Anticipation of trajectory of enemy ordinance. Estimating the size of an enemy LZ zone so you can also do the math and estimate how much ordinance you’d need to decimate the place without ever making you or your men enter into a combat situation.”

Everyone stared at him. Grace especially, her eyebrows high and face overwhelmed. He pulled a face. “What? That is what I went to school for.”

“You understand this stuff?”

Steve shrugged. “Sure.”

“That is good to know. Prepare yourself.”

“For what?”

“You’re going to end up tutoring me in this before the year is up.”

~~~

_A laugh._

_“What?”_

_“She was right. Thank god you understand math.”_

~~~

**Before the year was up**

~~~

“Okay, now we have to go backwards,” Steve said, leaning over Grace’s shoulder. Her math book and math homework and half a dozen pieces of scratch paper and a couple of note cards with formulas written on them and a couple other books Steve and Danny had bought hoping they’d help her were strewn all around the dining room table.

“Ugh!” Grace groaned, sitting back in the chair and throwing her head back. “Why?”

“Because sometimes you’ll know the circumference but not the area,” Steve explained patiently.

“But if you don’t know the area, then how can you know the circumference in the first place?”

Danny sat back, leaning against the doorway, watching. Math had always been a struggle for him growing up, too. Here it was, almost midnight, and Grace was still at it. So was Steve, for that matter. He was just as dedicated in helping Grace get through this as Danny was. He was having flashbacks to sitting at the kitchen counter with his dad sitting over his shoulder trying to learn the stuff too to help Danny through it late into the night. Everyday Danny woke up and found himself, once again, that he was thankful that Steve was in his life. He knew cars, he knew science, he watched Danny’s back when they were in the field, and he understood math well enough to explain it to his teenage daughter.

“They still at it?” Nahele asked with a whisper from behind him, rubbing at his eyes, making Danny jump a bit. “Sorry,” Nahele obviously didn’t mean to scare him.

“You’re like a cat when you wear socks,” Danny joked. “We need to get you a bell.”

Nahele rolled his eyes. “I guess I just learned how to be quiet, stay out of everyone’s way.”

Danny bit his lip, unsure how much he was allowed to parent. He was Steve’s foster son, not his. Nahele turned back toward the garland covered stairs, twinkling with lights and lined up with their stockings.

Oh, screw it.

“Hey,” Danny called out to him with a bit of whisper, trying not to disturb Steve and Grace. He moved into the living room with him. “You’re not in anyone’s way here, okay?”

Nahele’s jaw tightened.

“Your presence is very much wanted here, you got it?”

He looked down at his feet and sniffed. “Thanks Danny.” His voice lower, and quieter than it had already been, Danny reached out, squeezed his arm and gave a grin, unsure if they were at the hugging point yet. Then again, what had all the classes taught him? Foster kids needed encouragement and support?

So Danny pulled him to him, the kid more than a couple inches taller than him already – he was almost even with Steve – and hugged him. Nahele went rigid for a couple seconds, long enough for Danny to second guess his decision to give of himself, before the kid slumped and fisted his hands into the sides of Danny’s t-shirt, like he was unsure if he was allowed to take.

Danny decided to hug him more often after that.

~~~

_“I mean, that’s the right thing to do, right?”_

_“I believe so, yes.”_

_“Good.”_

_“He has gotten so much better than he was there at the beginning.”_

_“Oh, loads better.”_

_“We will get to Nahele later, preferably when he’s present. But, we got off topic again.”_

_A pointed look._

_“Sorry. Right.”_

~~~

**Back to the beginning again**

~~~

“One of your dad’s favorite movies is Die Hard?” Steve asked, looking at the stack of DVDs that Grace had packed for their weekend. He had always liked the one with Samuel L. Jackson better, anyway. “Isn’t that really, super cliché?”

Grace shrugged, hands busy braiding her wet hair into an intricate thing down the side of her neck. “He also likes those Jason Bourne movies, but last time I found it on cable and turned it on, he went on a big long thing about how he can’t watch those movies anymore because every time he does, he sees you.”

Steve smirked at that, shifting through the pile. “Air Force One?”

Grace shrugged again. “He likes most movies about the president, I’ve noticed. Or Harrison Ford. That one just has both so it’s a two-for-one.”

“You know we don’t have to watch these,” Steve told her. “We can watch whatever you want.”

“Nah,” Grace said. “It’s not a real Mope Weekend without fake explosions.”

“Alright,” Steve said with a bit of a chuckle, grabbing one of the discs and standing up, his decision made. “In that case we are going full on cliché this weekend. Complete with Bruce Willis in over his head.”

Grace smiled widely again, tying off her braid, and sitting down on the couch with an over dramatic flop. “We’ll get together, have a few laughs,” She said with a horrible attempt at the accent.

Steve laughed at that one. He knelt down at the DVD player, turning to look at her. “You’ve seen this movie enough you can quote it?”

“Every year, like clockwork. I only got to see it all the way through without eyes or ears being covered up last year. Or.” She made a face. “The year before. We didn’t do it last year.”

Steve took a deep breath. “When-“ He started. He didn’t want to ask. He could always look it up or ask Danny. Then, waiting for the machine to whirl up and open for him, curiosity got the better of him. “When is the anniversary of the divorce?”

“It’s early in November.”

Around the time Wo Fat had kidnapped him, then. A chill went up Steve’s spine at the memory, the sticky wet of the warm water, the fuzzy ringing in his ears every time he’d try to think too much about that day – a side effect of the drug, the doctors said. Comparing Danny’s personal twenty four hour security detail at the hospital for the week afterward to a guard dog and Danny not rising to the bait, just raising his chin, looking him deep in the eye, and saying, _“You’re damn right I am.”_

Steve had been extremely close to death several times – as had Danny – it was the nature of their job after all. The last few years had seen several close calls, and, for every single time Steve jumped into the line of fire, Danny had yelled at him.

Steve grinned at that. At Danny yelling at him, arms waving, calling him an idiot.

Well, not all of the close calls. Since Afghanistan, he’d gotten quiet. A soft, gentle, exasperation once Steve had found safety after a particular round with death. Steve didn’t know what had changed. It wasn’t like he wasn’t the only one with close calls. That fear and panic and literal string Steve sat on after that phone call saying Danny had been stabbed before he had gotten to the hospital. He left a crime scene, left a criminal, with barely a word, and just left, Danny too important. Or the five days straight Steve didn’t sleep or shower or change clothes to get Danny home from Columbia. (Maybe he did know what had changed, starting way back when a building fell on them, he just didn’t want to think about it too much.)

They really had a crappy year, didn’t they?

Steve sighed in relief when the DVD tray finally opened, knocking him out of his out mind and train of thought.

Then again, he did want to wallow, right?

He pushed the DVD back in, stood, and shook himself. He wanted to wallow. And throw a pity party. And focus on all the horrible things. It worked for Danny, right? He wanted to wallow…

…about Catherine. Not Danny. He hadn’t really thought much about…

He sighed in relief again, when the doorbell rang and Grace jumped up, an old, baggy, t-shirt emblazoned with NJPD on the front tied in a knot at the small of her back singing about pizza. Steve grinned; ducking into the office where he’d sat out some cash for the pizza on the desk, and wondered briefly if Danny had given the shirt to her, or if she had commandeered it.

The pizza girl was maybe in her twenties, long brown hair, deep brown eyes, and a sweet, smart smile and Steve was finally forced to think about Catherine again. On that porch, only a few weeks ago, telling him that she loved him, her eyes wet, saying how hard it was, and leaving anyway. He just didn’t understand, no matter how many times he tried to wrap his head around it.

 _“I need to feel needed,”_ She had said. Had he not done that?

 _‘I guess you didn’t do enough,’_ His brain supplied. That’s what it was, right? He wasn’t enough?

Grace elbowed him, gesturing to the money, and he jumped into action, handing it over with a grin.

“You’re dad’s a cutie,” The pizza girl said. “You look a lot alike.”

“Oh,” Steve started, “She’s no-“

“Thank you!” Grace said instead, wide blazing smile. “Everyone says I look like my mom, though.”

She shrugged. “Well, I have a feeling you’ll be tall like your dad,” She said, motioning to Steve.

Steve and Grace shared a moment, staring at each other in mirrored disbelief, before they both broke out into all out laughter.

“Sure,” Steve said, still laughing, being sure to leave behind a nice tip. She was already looking wide eyed, like she had said something wrong. It wasn’t her fault Grace had let the misunderstanding slide.

“Oh yeah,” Grace said, laughing just as hard, grabbing the pizza box. “Tall like my dad. You’re right.” She turned around towards the kitchen, laughter ringing through the house.

“Night!” Steve said cheerfully to a confused delivery girl, as he closed the door. He momentarily felt bad. Grace’s resurgence of laughter from the other room made it disappear just as quick. “Why’d you do that Grace?”

She turned as he entered the kitchen, pineapple pizza already in her mouth. “Why would a forty year old man have a teenage girl alone in his house?”

Steve paused for a moment, thinking about the implications. “Oh.” Then. “I’m not forty.”

“Yeah yeah, whatever,” She shrugged. “Besides, you’d say ‘she’s my partner’s daughter’ and people would still think ‘step-daughter’ so it doesn’t matter.”

Warmth ran through Steve’s veins at that, but he wasn’t going to think about it. He had fresh pineapple pizza and a classic movie and a little girl with a wide smile helping him laugh. The last thing he needed to think about was Danny.

This was good. Just what he needed. No wonder Danny made them a bit of a tradition.

Mope Weekends were wonderful.

~~~

_“That’s where that joke’s from?”_

_A small laugh._

_“We see that pizza girl every time we order pizza, Steven!”_

_The laughing continues._

_“Joke?”_

~~~

**Mope Weekend, Day Two**

~~~

Danny had been moved to share a room with Charlie. Stan and Rachel were sitting tersely on opposite sides of Charlie’s bed and Stan was being overly, suspiciously nice towards Danny. Danny was tense at having all three parents in the room at once and Charlie was complaining that he was tired and felt sick and they were trying to distract him and Grace was sitting criss cross at the foot of Danny’s bed talking about the handful of waves she and Steve had caught on Steve’s beach the night before and Steve leaned back against the wall taking it all in.

“Will you teach me how to surf?” Charlie had asked. “Once I get better?”

Steve looked up, happy that Charlie was starting to be comfortable enough with his presence that he was asking him for things. He smiled.

“If it’s alright with your-“ He paused, eyes flitting to Danny, then to Stan, then to Rachel, then back to Danny. “Folks,” He settled on.

Rachel adjusted in her chair, Stan lowered his gaze, and Danny’s shoulders tightened.

“And Aunt Kono,” Danny said, raising his eyebrows to Steve. Steve mirrored them back.

“Uncle Steve’s beach is super cool,” Grace told him. “The water gets deep pretty fast, but the water is really calm if it’s not raining, and maybe when you’re a bit bigger, he’ll take us snorkeling in the coral at the mouth of the bay.”

“Yeah?” Charlie asked, eyes turning to Steve.

Steve nodded. “You’re a bit too little yet, but maybe in a few years.”

 _‘If he gets there,’_ His brain supplied. Then he kicked himself for even thinking it.

“Yeah but until then,” Grace started again, “He’s got a cool beach and a house with a big backyard, and one of those outdoor showers you like to play in. Uncle Steve is super cool.”

“Did you hear that Danno?” Steve asked. “’ _Super cool._ ’”

“Yeah, I heard it,” He said with a grin and eyes for nothing but his daughter. The little warmth from the night before flooded through Steve with a vigor. Danny happy and smiling at his children was really a glorious sight to see. Steve was maybe a little more over Catherine than he thought. He scratched at his face, trying to get rid of the thought.

“Plus, he’s really tall,” Grace said, with a smirk towards Steve. Steve couldn’t help the snort that came out of him.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Danny asked, face fallen.

“Nothing, Danno,” Steve said. “Nothing at all.”

“Definitely nothing to do with DNA,” Grace said, seriously towards Danny, then turned another smirk towards Steve.

Steve lost it, falling forward to his knees in laughter and he came back up wiping at his face. Grace wore a wide, playful smile. Danny looked so confused that Steve only laughed again.

“What is this?”

“You told me to make sure he was happy this weekend, I’d say laughing is a pretty good indicator.”

Steve took a much needed breath, the laughter shaking loose something he didn’t know he was holding on to, a weight somewhere around his jaw and shoulders and upper back just fell off and the warmth spread. As much as he claimed he didn’t want a babysitter, and as much as he was supposed to be Grace’s babysitter this weekend, she was certainly a much welcomed and much needed, steadying figure in his life.

“Yeah, I get that, and I’m very proud of you, but what does it mean?”

“Oh, you know Danno,” Grace said, a playful smirk focused on Steve. “Father, daughter bonding.”

“Oh my god!” Steve exclaimed before he started laughing again.

He ended up having to leave the room after that.

~~~

_“So the tension between Mr. and Mrs. Edwards was already there?”_

_“I’m pretty sure it was there the moment Stan learned Charlie wasn’t his.”_

_“Well, my first one on one session with Mr. Edwards is tomorrow, so we’ll find out. Anyway, if you could see it, do you think the children could too? Or was it just not talked about.”_

_“I’m sure they picked up on it. Grace, of course, you know what’s happening with Grace and Rachel.”_

_“Yes, Mrs. Edward’s session was this morning. I’m very interested in talking to Grace.”_

_“Why didn’t you want to talk to Danny and me separate, like Stan and Rachel?”_

_“Mr. and Mrs. Edwards are going through a divorce, are they not? You two are currently in a domestic partnership. Can I ask why that and not a marriage?”_

_A shrug._

_“At the time it was just easier with the kids, and marriage wasn’t…”_

_“…wasn’t on the table... at the time.”_

_A narrowing of eyes._

_A smug grin._

_“…and I still don’t know how you got together.”_

_“Because we keep going off on tangents, Steven.”_

_“I’m not the only one, Daniel. I mean, I could be talking about you and your movie choices.”_

_“They aren’t clichéd, by the way!”_

_“Oh, yeah they are…”_

~~~

**About halfway through the movie**

~~~

“Oh my god,” Steve said, taking another sip of his water.

“What?”

“It’s Danno.”

“What?”

“That’s why he likes this movie so much. It’s pretty much Danny. They are the same guy.”

“Uncle Steve, let’s not dwell on why my father’s favorite movie to watch on the anniversary of breaking up with my mother is about an east coast cop who likes to hear himself talk going through a divorce. Let’s focus on the gun fights and the explosions like we’re supposed to.”

“Yes ma’am.”

~~~

_A laugh. “Grace sounds delightful.”_

_“She is,” Said at the same time._

_“Well, our hour is up, so you’ll have to continue this next time. Uh, also, Commander, I can answer your question, this can’t go towards your state mandated hours, you’ll still be required to do your annual assessment.”_

_“Awesome.”_

_“Well, I guess… I will see you when you drop off Grace and Nahele tomorrow?”_

_“Yeah.” “Yes.”_

_“Alright, good first session, guys.”_


	2. Chapter Two

~~~

 

**For a few hours that Sunday on Mope Weekend**

~~~

Five-0 got called to do some kind of escort thing (and Grace didn’t know if “escort” meant “drive someone somewhere” or “paying for a date” and no one would tell her) and she was staying with Steve until Monday after school, so she was sitting at HQ, ignoring her homework spread out in front of her, watching Jerry scroll through screen after screen.

“What are you doing?” She asked him.

He turned around to look at her. “Uh,” He said. “I don’t know if your dad would want you to see all this stuff.”

“It looks like you’re going through phone bills,” She said.

“I am.”

“That’s not very graphic.”

“Not necessarily,” He said. Then he bit his lip. “You can tell a lot from a person’s phone.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, for example,” He said. “Can I use your phone? See what I can see?”

She eyed her phone for a moment, remembering how Danno was getting her texts last spring on accident. “What?”

“I’m gonna do the magic table thing and pull up your phone on the screens and see what I can extrapolate about your life. Show you how it works sometimes. Plus, it’ll be good practice for me.”

His grin was so sweet she almost gave in right then.

“Will my dad see it?”

“I swear I’ll delete the logs!”

She jumped up, grabbing her phone, desperate for a break from evil math. “Alright. I want to watch you delete them though.”

“Smart girl,” Jerry said approvingly. Then he did do some magic, pulling up a bunch of logs and stuff that was clearly her phone. She was overwhelmed for a moment… that they could do that so easily. “Let’s see…” Jerry said, scrolling through the screens again.

She leaned forward on the super computer. This table had always fascinated her but she had never gotten to play with it. Watching someone was as close as she was ever going to get.

“You’ve got a boyfriend, or something like it,” He said. “The little heart emoji gives it away, b-t-w.” Grace grinned. “You don’t understand your math homework, but I could tell you that from sharing this room with you for the last hour.” She grinned again. “BUT you texted someone you’ve clearly never texted before asking for help so you’ve just started a new class. You’re ignoring your mom, you haven’t answered a single text message from her for a week and… yep… a bunch of missed calls, so… if I didn’t know you, I’d say you’d had a fight. And if you were missing, your mom would become a person the cops would talk to, find out why you’d stopped talking.”

Grace took a deep breath, not really wanting to get into it. That was literally the last thing she wanted to talk about with anyone. Steve had even not-so-subtly brought it up the day before while they were working on his car. “What else?”

To his credit, and as awkward as the guy was sometimes, he got it.

“Uh, your dad is worried about your Uncle Steve,” He said. “So… again not knowing you, I’d say there was a problem with your dad and his brother. Then again, he’s ‘Danno’ in your phone, so I don’t know if I’d pick up that he was your dad yet or not. You’ve been staying with Uncle Steve, your dad even mentions you should talk to your mom. You should really delete your texts more often. I mean, cops can find backlogs of all this stuff, but anyone could break into your phone and read all about your life. I mean, imagine if someone got a hold of a phone like your dad’s. Maybe I should bring this up with the boss…”

All that little study break did was increase Grace’s snoop tendencies.

She’d had them since she was little; her grandma had said she got them from Danno. She’d find birthday presents and she’d find plane tickets and she’d found Stan’s engagement ring and her parent’s divorce papers, all before she was supposed to. Danny said that it was a natural and healthy curiosity to inspect her surroundings. (Her mother would tell her it was rude.) He’d always do that when she was little, distract her in crowded places with trying to figure out little puzzles, ask people questions, especially people she’d see every day.

So she snooped, in her father’s office, under the guise of looking for an eraser (which, actually, wasn’t a lie. She was erasing wrong answers more than she was solving them.) She’d found a bunch of old pictures of her in one of the drawers, old school photos and posed photoshoots with all the Williams cousins. There was an old pocket knife that she recognized as her grandpa’s. A post card that said “wish you were here,” a bottle of hairspray (which she giggled at) and a packet on “how to become a foster parent.”  
Her eyes wide at that, no one had said anything about fostering anyone. Maybe it was for Steve and Nahele. But, why wouldn’t her father tell her that Steve was going to foster the boy? She slammed the drawer shut, her mother’s voice in her head _“this is too far, Grace Danielle!”_ and she wanted to ignore it but Jerry had turned to look at her at the noise.

Smiling, she opened the top drawer, where all the pens would be anyway, and paused at a little yellow post-it note from Steve that read _“you can do this - Steve”_ with a little smiley face on it sitting in his top drawer, plain, out in the open, where he’d see it every time he went for a pen. She smiled at that, that her father would keep something like that to see every day. From the looks of it, the sides of the little piece of paper bent and crumpled and then smoothed down back flat, Danno had taken care of it.

Once again she found herself rolling her eyes at her father and Uncle Steve. Sometimes they were so oblivious to what they had that it was annoying.

Snoop tendencies sedated for the time being, she went back to her math homework with a grumble loud enough that when he came back from the escort thing, (apparently a “drive someone somewhere” thing) Steve had sat down and walked her through it until she finished every last equation.

“You can do this,” He’d tell her.

~~~

_“You seem very fond of Steve.”_

_“Yeah, I like him.”_

_“So this was the weekend you feel like things started to change for your family?”_

_“Well, at least… with Danno and Uncle Steve, yeah. Everything with mum and Stan was changing long before that.”_

_“Tell me.”_

~~~

**Last year, just after school ended**

~~~

Finding out her half-brother was actually her full brother didn’t change how she felt about Charlie all that much. Grace knew he was sick. She knew she loved him. She knew he was adorable and curious and liked it when she did her flips in the backyard. He thought it was funny. He liked Toy Story and he was kind of scared to swim in pools but wasn’t scared of the ocean and he liked how sometimes the sky turned pink when the sun was going down. He was very special to Grace. So finding out that they shared more DNA than originally thought did absolutely nothing to how she felt about her little brother.

Her mother however…

“I can’t believe you lied. Lying is awful. We have to trust each other!”

“It was for Charlie’s own good,” Rachel tried to explain, “I was worried-“

“About what?” Grace asked. “That if he had a dad like mine, he’d turn out like me?”

“Of course no- That’s not wha-“ Rachel sputtered for a moment, mouth flailing around trying to find purchase on words to explain something Grace couldn’t understand. At this point, she doubted she ever would.

“Then what? What is so bad about my dad that he couldn’t be my brother’s dad too?”

“Your father’s job is dangerous, any moment he-“

“He keeps us safe!”

“How many times has he been shot? Or shown up here to pick you up covered in bruises? Any day now I’m expecting a phone call and I’m going to have to explain to you that your father’s… that’s he’s done something ridiculously unnecessary and I’ll have to deal with the fallout of that.”

Grace took a steady breath, started counting to ten, just like her teachers, and therapists, and Uncle Chin, and her own father had taught her.

One.

“I was terrified that I was going to have to do this alone.”

Two.

“That I’d be a single mother of two with not much more than a cop’s compensation.”

Three. Four.

“Grace, please, say something.”

Five.

“I did what I thought was best for this family.”

Si-

Grace started laughing.

“No, what was best for this family was Danno moving six thousand miles to be nearby when he didn’t have to be. What was best for this family was Danno fighting for custody of me so we wouldn’t have to leave, so I wouldn’t be at my fifth school in six years. What’s best for this family is my father having surgery for my little brother.”

Then a thought struck her, as she realized she was standing, and had fists at her side, and her mother was staring up at her with wide eyes.

“Did Danno know?”

Her mother took a deep breath, letting it out in controlled manner that immediately reminded Grace of her grandfather sitting in his study trying to block out the sound of grandchildren loud and happy on Boxing Day. “No.”

Grace rolled her eyes. “Danno wouldn’t have lied, not about this.”

“I know.”

Three days later Grace was living with her father full time. The screaming and yelling and fighting was excruciating, and not just for Rachel and Grace. Charlie would watch them from behind doorframes, wondering why they kept screaming about him. Grace just couldn’t do that to her little brother.

She loved him too much.

“Your mother loves you, you know,” Danno said, curled up around her in his bed. They had Netflix open on her laptop and popcorn in their laps and Grace didn’t want to talk about it. “You being mad at her is killing her.”

“Maybe she deserves a bit of pain,” Grace said, quietly, eyes focused on zombie hordes, but she knew she’d have to re-watch this episode. Danno’s arms tightened and he kissed her temple and she didn’t understand how her mother wouldn’t want this for Charlie.

~~~

_A sigh._

_“So things are tough with your mom?”_

_A frown. A nod._

_“Sounds like your dad really loves you. That’s good, right?”_

_“Yeah.”_

_“What about Steve?”_

_A smile._

~~~

**Mope Weekend, Day Three**

~~~

Nahele had joined them for morning running, swimming, and breakfast. They assured her that they do this as often as they could. ( _“Which means on the days he wakes up before ten,”_ Steve told her with a wink. Nahele kicked water at him.) And while Grace wasn’t all that used to activity in the morning, it was definitely something she could get used to.

“Oh, don’t tell Danno that,” Steve said, as she commented about it, ringing out her hair. “He’ll never let you stay with me again. He already thinks I’ve brainwashed you.”  
She smiled, “Just wait until I tell him I’ve been thinking about joining the Navy.”

Steve paused, something weird in his eyes for half a second. Then he smiled and asked, “Really?”

She shrugged. “It’s an option. Along with meteorologist, marine biologist, and cop.”

“That’s a bit all over the place,” Nahele commented.

She shrugged again; she had time to figure it out. “What about you?” She asked, as they started walking towards the house. “What do you want to do?”

“I don’t know,” He shrugged. “I was thinking maybe mechanic. I’m kind of getting good at that.”

“No college?”

“With what money?” He asked, with a bit of a chuckle.

She turned to look at Steve too see his reaction, only to find that he was actually lagging behind them a few steps, head down, but smiling a small smile.

“Uncle Steve?” She called.

He looked up and, like it was a switch, he was back in action. “Yeah. Eggs or ham bagels, you two?”

“Eggs,” Nahele said. “Bagels,” Grace said. They turned to look at each other; Grace narrowed her eyes a bit.

Competition? This was going to be fun.

“We can have bagels,” Nahele backed down right away. Grace’s face fell. That wasn’t…

“No, we can have eggs. Don’t back down from what you want,” She said with complete surety. She turned and headed toward the house again. “I call first shower!”

Steve laughed from somewhere behind her. “Don’t take too long!” Then she saw him throw an arm around Nahele in the window’s reflection and say. “You should take her advice, by the way.”

Grace was ecstatic.

Later, at the hospital, watching Steve and Danno go back and forth about _“another night in the hospital when I feel fine is ridiculous, Steven.” “You just had bone marrow taken out of your body you can follow doctor’s instructions, Daniel!” “At this rate, I’ll have more nights on my punch card than you.” “Nah, I’ve got you beat by at least a month.” “That is not funny, Steven, stop smiling,”_ so on and so forth, she rolled her eyes yet again.

They were ridiculous. Stan had wide eyes at their back and forth, Charlie had color in his face for the first time in a week watching them, and her mother eyed Danno with a familiar curiosity.

Not for the first time, Grace wondered how they didn’t see it.

Nahele leaned over to her, quiet and whispering, “I have to ask, because before Catherine showed up I thought… but… are they…” He motioned to Steve and Danno, and then did this simple joining motion with his fingers, pointing them to one another.

“No,” She whispered back.

“Have they ever..?”

“Not that I know of.”

“But have they always done this?”

“Always.”

“And they haven’t-“

“Nope.”

“What the hell?”

“Right?” She said loud enough, that everyone kind of looked at her, but Danno was on a roll about price gouging and personnel focusing their time and resources on Charlie instead of him so she was mostly ignored. She leaned back in towards Nahele, “What are we going to do about it?”

He paused a bit, studying her for a moment. His eyes turned to Steve, who was in the middle of telling Danny that the more he relaxed the _“better off he’d be once he got back to work so enjoy the medically necessary vacation please?” “I cannot relax knowing you’re out somewhere on the island causing trouble, possibly with grenades!”_ Then Nahele bit his lip… and then he slowly smiled.

“Oh yeah,” Grace said, finally happy to have an ally in her father’s ridiculous crush. “What’s your text plan like? We need to talk.”

~~~

_“So they weren’t together at this point.”_

_“No.”_

_“When did they get together?”_

_“Uh. Well. It was well before everything with Jack… but they were kind of together without realizing it for a very long time.”_

_“What? How does that work?”_

_An impressive eye roll._

_“You tell me. I mean, this one time-”_

~~~

**November 1st, 2012, because Halloween was the day before**

~~~

Noah had climbed the Ferris Wheel and he and Ally were yelling at each other in the streets and everything about their relationship was explosive and fast and exciting.  
Danno, curled up under Uncle Steve’s arm, made a huff of confusion.

“Why is fighting considered romantic for this couple?” He asked.

“I don’t know,” Steve answered already. “To show they… challenge each other. I guess.”

“Do you really want to be in a relationship where all you do is argue?”

Catherine let out a chuckle at that, but she quickly covered her mouth with her hand. Grace smirked quickly at Catherine, but then focused, yet again, on her father. Did he not hear what was coming out of his mouth?

“Oh!” Danno said, “Now they’re makin’ out! How does that make sense?”

Steve adjusted in his seat. “Maybe that’s their version of foreplay.”

“What’s foreplay?”

Her father stared at her with wide eyes, while Steve puffed his cheeks and made an awkward face. Catherine chuckled again.

“I’ll stop talking, let’s just watch the movie.”

~~~

_“Oh goodness.”_

_“Right? That’s just one story. And for every story I have there’s probably a hundred more that I wasn’t there for.”_

_“So do you like living with your father and Uncle Steve?”_

_A nod._

_“Do you still call Steve ‘Uncle Steve?’”_

_“I don’t know what else to call him. I guess, he’s a step-dad, right? But. ‘Step-Steve’ is… wrong. That’s Stan’s thing. And daddy is ‘Danno.’ But I don’t know what else to call Steve.”_

_“What does Charlie call him?”_

_“’Mander.’ Like, Commander, but shorter. Because Nahele calls Steve ‘Commander.’ Jack’s trying to say it too. I don’t know, I like ‘Uncle Steve’ because it’s just for me and him.”_

_A note, written on a legal pad._

_“What do you think of your brothers?”_

_A shrug._

_“What about them?”_

_“Do you like having brothers?”_

_“I wouldn’t mind a sister.”_

_“Do you have problems with you brothers?”_

_A shake of the head._

_“Nothing big. Little things, like…”_

_A groan._

_“…boxer shorts in the bathroom. Or taking my spot in the shower. Basically anything to do with sharing a bathroom with a fifteen year old boy.”_

~~~

**A week after the Williams moved into the McGarrett house**

~~~

“Grace Danielle, you are going to have to make this work!” Danno had told her.

“I am totally fine with sharing my room, I really am, Charlie is only ever really here every other weekend so that’s not a big deal, it’s just I’d rather people not walk into the bathroom while I’m taking a shower, is that so much to ask?”

“She takes thirty minutes and by the time she’s out I’m going to be late for school!” Nahele argued.

Grace rolled her eyes.

“Not to mention you two still have to take showers too!”

Danny opened his mouth, ready to probably say it maybe it really was time the two of them went back to their own house, and Grace’s stomach dropped. She liked it here, she wasn’t ready to leave.

“Okay!” Steve said, interrupting whatever Danno was going to say, frazzled and tired. “We are going to be implementing Navy Showers!”

“Steve-“ Danno started. Steve cut him off with a face that Grace saw for the very first time ever that day. She’d come to call it his “Military Commander” face. Her father, by how smartly he had shut up and shut down and let Steve lead, had obviously seen that face before.

“Grace, thirty minutes is way too long, you can’t do that here of a morning. Nahele, her privacy is important and needs to be respected, and next time you do you’re going to be grounded. Everyone gets ten minutes in the shower the morning! You want more? You have to shower at night. Do I need to make a chart?”

The two teenagers were quiet, both sets of eyes focused on the ground, but they didn’t respond.

“Do I need to make a chart?” Steve asked again, turning his ear towards them.

“No sir,” They said together, meek and reprimanded.

“Alright, Nahele. Shower. Now. Or we really will be late.”

“I still have soap in my hair!”

“We have a sink!”

~~~

_“And that was just the first time. Nahele and I fight pretty bad over the bathroom, but we’ve learned not to take it to dads or else we’ll get in major trouble. We have, a couple times.”_

_“So, you were all living together…_ before _your dads were together?”_

_A nod._

_A sigh. A note._

_“What exactly prompted the move?”_

_“Jack.”_

~~~

**The day Jack and Nahele moved in**

~~~

“So you can either stay here with Eric tonight or come sleep on the couch Steve has upstairs where the baby is. Up to you.” Danno shrugged, overnight bag packed and waiting for him on the kitchen table.

Grace shrugged. “Why exactly are you going over there?”

Danno rolled his eyes. “Because your Uncle Steve thought it would be a good idea to foster an infant without any kind of previous knowledge of infant care along with taking in a teenager too. Why McGarretts call me when they are freaking out about their children, I will never know.”

“You must be a good father,” Grace teased.

He narrowed his eyes at her. “You coming or not?”

She started packing a bag. She was not going to miss this.

Mostly it ended up being them settling Nahele and Jack in. Steve had cleared out Mary’s room, to make room for Nahele and Jack, with the plan to remodel part of the upstairs rec room, the one long space that led to the upper porch no one ever seemed to sit on, into another bedroom. The lumber for this project was already in the living room under a tarp, along with half the furniture from the upstairs, Mary’s furniture, a bunch of unopened boxes of furniture yet to be put together, and the whole place was a giant mess.  
Grace had never seen Uncle Steve’s house so torn up. She was worried that another kid around would be too much, but the wide smile and warm hug that Steve gave her made those worries float away, and she jumped into helping.

She and Nahele were working on putting ill-fitting sheets and an old blanket on his bed (Steve promising that they’d make a trip to the store tomorrow for more essentials and Nahele could pick out whatever he wanted) when she noticed something.

“Where’s all your stuff?”

He eyed her with a scared face and she knew she had asked the wrong thing.

“Foster kids don’t tend to have lots of things,” He told her, his voice sad. “My backpack and that duffle bag is it.”

“Oh,” Grace said, biting her lip. She stalled, trying to find something to say.

“Don’t worry about it,” He told her, his voice still low and sad.

~~~

_“Did you have many stumbles like that with him?”_

_“At first, yeah. But we found common ground soon enough.”_

_“What do you mean?”_

~~~

That same day, Danno was teaching Steve that babies needed their fingernails cut from time to time. They had sat down on the couch, during one particular break in setting up the house, with nail clippers and a very happy Jack.

Happy, at least, until Danno snipped the first nail. Then Jack screamed. Both men sat back, shocked. He wasn’t hurt, he was just scared.

“Okay then,” Danno told him. “You’re just like Grace then, aren’t you?” He asked the baby, who had quieted back down to listen. Then Danno leaned down, grabbing one of Jack’s fingers and gently started biting at the nail. Jack stilled and watched Danno work, happy again.

“What are you doing?” Steve asked him.

Danno shrugged. “He obviously doesn’t like the nail clippers!”

“Yeah, but biting them with your teeth?”

He shrugged. “I used to do it like this for Grace!”

Grace perked up at that, “You did?”

Danno looked over at her with a bit of a grin and nodded. “You hated the clippers too. You’d scream and scream and eventually your mother would give in just ‘Daniel do the thing!’” He imitated a British accent. Grace smiled. “And I’d do this.” He leaned down, working on another finger.

Grace sat back from her project, researching electricians for the new bedroom after Steve and Danny came to blows about it only a half hour ago (Danno yelling about how Steve was _“going to get himself electrocuted doing something he wasn’t trained for and then the boys would be out a foster family yet again.” “It’s so much money to hire an electrician, Danny, I am perfectly capable of doing this myself.” “Yeah, maybe before you had two children depending on you, maybe,”_ and Steve had conceded. )

So. She was researching electricians online at the desk, and watching her father and Uncle Steve dote on a truly adorable baby, she had to admit. He was exactly a month old to the day and he had a mop of dark, brunet hair and dark brown eyes. Nahele came in, handing her a water bottle, and followed her gaze.

They were ridiculous, sitting so close, Steve watching Danno with something that definitely was not friendship. Something soft and wanting. Danno making faces down at Jack, who only waved his arms and kicked his feet around happily. Steve’s face lighting up at every gurgle and every face Danno made.

It was ridiculous.

“So when does Phase One start?” Nahele asked her, around the mouth of his water bottle.

She sighed. “You guys moving in changes things, I’ll have to re-think the plan. Plus, I think Jack is going to make things easier for us.”

~~~

_“Phase One?”_

_A smug nod._

_“What are you talking about?”_

_“Have you ever seen The Parent Trap?”_

~~~

**Phase One: Ambelissa**

~~~

Really, Grace had nothing against her father’s girlfriend. She was nice and sweet and knew things about makeup that youtube could never teach her. Grace really didn’t want her to hurt. She was actually a really great lady that was in a bad situation for so long that it took so much out of her and needed someone like Danno to help make her brave again. Danno was good at that.

Thing was, he had done that for her and she was still around.

She didn’t find out about Charlie until after the bone marrow transplant. Grace listened from the kitchen as she calmly explained that she was hurt, something about a luggage store, and that she was still around if Danny wanted her to be.

See, Danno needed someone that could challenge him. Someone that would have yelled at him about not telling them about something as big as the news about Charlie, someone that would have stood up and demanded more out of him, instead of this quiet reassurance that she was here if he wanted her to be. (And really, she needed someone that didn’t keep these big things from her, someone that understood she needed to have some kind of control in a relationship, with her history with her ex-husband, not this passive acceptance – a phrase she had learned from Aunt Kono.)

Her mother was actually very good at challenging her father. It was just that her mother didn’t want to step up to the plate as often as Danny seemed to need from her, and he stepped up too often for her tastes. At least, from Grace’s point of view. That last year before the divorce became inevitable was cloudy, she was so young, but she remembered her father would walk on eggshells sometimes, never being able to seem to do anything right.

When they were good, they were good – those memories were some of Grace’s favorites – but it was rare and in short spurts.

Grace was learning relationships come in all kinds. Her mother and father were better parents when they were apart. Her Grandma and Grandpa Williams talked about everything in a cluttered house full of pictures and her Nan and Pa Tate talked about nothing in a fancy house full of paintings. Uncle Steve and Catherine seemed like they were good friends that kept each other company when there was nothing else to do. Danno and Ambelissa were right to help them both get over something bad, but not solid, and not one that was going to last and that was okay.

They just needed to get Danno to see that.

Success was found not long after Steve became a foster father. Grace and Nahele referred to Melissa as “Ambelissa” enough (never in front of Danno because Danno would give dirty looks) that it rubbed off on Steve.

“Are you going to invite Ambelissa?” Steve asked, armful of Jack, watching the kids pile into the car for school. Steve was on parental leave, Jack and Nahele still so new to his household. Danno, however, still had to work. Those first few weeks felt very 1950s domestic, she had to admit. You know. If the 1950s was cool with two, unmarried dads raising a mixed race family.

Danny threw up his hands, Grace already in the Camaro. Nahele shot her an excited face as he climbed in behind Danny’s seat and she shared it back wholeheartedly.

“Why are you using Grace’s name for her? You know it’s Melissa!”

“Well, maybe if your kid can’t even get her name right, it’s a sign?”

So started a long rant that almost made everyone late and they were not present for the fallout but two days later Danno announced he was no longer seeing Melissa so, really. It worked out.

~~~

_“You broke up your dad and his girlfriend?”_

_“They weren’t really seeing each other. They were just… They had been seeing each other for almost two years and Danno didn’t take her to Aunt Kono’s wedding, or tell her about Charlie, or take her to a million other family parties and dinners. Does that sound like they were really seeing each other?”_

_“Well…”_

_“Meanwhile my dad was bringing up Steve in every conversation, we spent more time at Steve’s, or Steve spent so much time at our house, and every family event they were always sitting together, and their phone wallpapers were each other!”_

_“Grace…”_

_“No, it was ridiculous! I got mad about it more than once.”_

~~~

**Random day last summer**

~~~

Rum Fire was a fancy restaurant that the family reserved for only the sweetest of occasions. Hiring Jerry onto Five-0 was apparently such an occasion. She always felt like she had to dress up a bit when someone made reservations there. At least, it was an excuse to.

Her father had put on slacks and a nice shirt, something he wouldn’t have worn to work.

( _“That’s a nice shirt, Danno.” “Knowing your Uncle Steve, the moment I wear this shirt to work, is the moment he’ll have us chasing deep sea divers or calamari smugglers or… a thousand other things that would mean this shirt would be ruined, so that’s why I’ve never worn it before.”_ )

Uncle Steve had shown up in jeans and a blazer and she watched as the two of them eyed each other, silent in their appraisals, before Kono had nudged Steve and Grace had nudged Danno and then they did that stupid borderline flirting smiling-at-each-other-all-night thing and really.

This was ridiculous.

Kono saw her face, and smiled, rolling her eyes fondly at the two of them.

~~~

**And at Kono’s wedding**

~~~

The first time they danced, it was obviously a joke. Uncle Chin had stolen her for a dance and Danno was left alone on the dance floor with a teasing pout, obviously not too put out. Chin had gloated his victory and spun her around like she was a precious prize and next thing she knew, Steve was scooting up to Danno, had his arms around him, and they were dancing. Catherine was laughing and Kono was grinning and Chin was even encouraging it. It was a good time.

Later though, when Catherine had gone off to find Kono, and Grace was starting to get tired, and all the adults were a few drinks in, Steve and Danno swayed next to each other to a slow beat just off the dance floor.

“No, no,” Steve said with a grin. “Like this.”

Danno turned to him then, eyes down at their feet doing some kind of step. They fumbled a few times, laughing about it. Steve had a hand around her father’s back and Grace watched as Steve bit his lip as he watched Danno concentrate with a soft face.

“That’s with you leading though,” He complained.

“Then take the lead, Danno,” Steve told him.

Danno’s eyes shot up, wide and shocked, and then the song changed and Catherine walked up and stole Steve and Danno was left, yet again, without a partner on the dance floor. Only this time, his slight pout was real.

Grace was the one to swoop in and save him this time.

“Why don’t you go steal him from Cath if you wanted to keep dancing with him?” She asked.

“Because this way I get to dance with you!” He said, and she believed it was genuine, but it was absolutely ridiculous.

~~~

_“I think the worst though, was when I figured out when Charlie was conceived.”_

_“Oh?”_

_“Well, my parents had to have an affair, right?”_

_“Right.”_

_“So, thinking back nine or so months before Charlie was born and that’s when the affair was going on. I think I figured out it happened after dad got poisoned.”_

_“He was poisoned? By who?”_

_“Not important. What is important is that was the first time it really felt like Uncle Steve was more than my dad’s friend. He cared about me, too, ya’ know? Danno got sick, he picked me up from school, he planned it so I would be staying with him while Danno was in the hospital. He was so… sweet and calm._

_“Danno always said he was loud and brash and quick to danger and that wasn’t the man that took care of me during all that._

_“But it was after that mum and dad were doing really good. It was like that for a while until the random trip to New Jersey without dad.”_

_“What?”_

_“Yeah, there was supposed to be a trip to New Jersey that was the three of us, but it was just me and mum we were there for, like, two days before we were flying back to Hawaii, and we didn’t even go see my grandparents or anything. I didn’t know what that was until this summer when everything with Charlie came out.”_

_“What do you mean?”_

_“Mum was going to leave Stan because of the baby. She had apparently talked Danno into leaving Hawaii and go back to New Jersey. Then Uncle Steve got accused of murdering the governor and Danno chose to stay.”_

_“…Your Steve is that Steve? That killed governor Jameson?”_

_“No. Just accused. It was someone else, but the evidence was stacked against him and the only person that seemed to believe him was Danno. And dad chose him over mum. At least, I think that’s how mum sees it.”_

_“Yes… she had said… But she didn’t say…”_

_“What did she say?”_

_“I can’t tell you just yet, but-“_

_A note written down._

_“-this is certainly a topic for later.”_

_“Yeah, I was so mad when I figured all that out. Why Uncle Steve went a bit wild after all that too. Because Danno was with mum. It was like Uncle Steve had figured something out about my dad, and then my dad just threw a wrench in it with getting back together with my mum.”_

~~~

**One particular attempt at getting Grace to speak to Rachel**

~~~

“So Steve went to get a confession out of the governor… why? You had already told him you needed to get evidence some other way.”

“That’s what you’re caught up on?” Rachel asked.

Grace ignored her, looking to her father for an answer.

Danny took a deep breath. “Yeah. He was… desperate, I think. For an answer and a resolution to everything. He was ready for it all to be done.”

“But why would he risk…”

Then it hit her: Steve thought he didn’t have Danny anymore.

“Holy shit.”

~~~

_“I got in trouble for that one.”_

_“I bet.”_

_“I was just so angry because they were being so stubborn!”_

_“Speaking of stubborn, your mother says you don’t want to go back to private school?”_

_A pause._

_“No.”_

_“Why not?”_

_“It costs too much.”_

_A shuffling of paper._

_“According to my notes, both of your parents said that the tuition was not a problem. And that your father had signed you up for the scholarship for children of state employees. So what was the real problem?”_

_Another pause._

_“I overheard Danno and Uncle Steve one night.”_

_~~~_

**One night, back before Steve was fostering the boys**

~~~

Math was a problem. It was going to be a problem for the rest of her life and honestly any sort of job that required her to know how to find the area of a circle was out. Completely out. No way. Not going to do it. Ever.

But Nahele had rushed through his chemistry like it was nothing, already pulled out another science book, happily doing some kind of worksheet on types of rocks and Grace kind of hated him. He could finish his advanced class homework, all of his classes actually, in the time it took her to do barely half of her math homework.

She needed a break.

Pushing back from the dining room table, she walked into the kitchen for a glass of water only to hear Steve and Danno talking outside on the lanai.

“With all the medical bills from the transplant, and all the legal fees I’ve got coming with Charlie, I’m going to have to miss a few months of boat fund deposits,” Danno had said, his head bowed down over some kind of paper on the table.

Steve, bouncing a happy Jack in his lap, (he had been fussy for attention all afternoon, what with Steve agreeing to babysit on his day off for the Whitakers and his routine knocked around) only hummed. “If you need it, take what you need out of that account. Even if it’s from my half.”

“I can’t ask you to-“

“Of course you can. Isn’t that what that account is for anyway? A security fund for us? Charlie is the priority for you with your finances, so it’s the priority for me too. He’s your kid, so what exactly wouldn’t I do for him?”

Danno paused, watching Steve focus on Jack for a moment with a soft look on his face. “Thank you, Steve. But this is really my problem.”

“What is it you like to say? Your problems are my problems?”

Danno rolled his eyes, but smiled all the same. “Out of all the things I’ve ever told you, that’s what you choose to remember?”

“Of course.”

~~~

_“Boat fund?”_

_“Yeah, they were saving to buy a fancy boat once they retired. I don’t know if that’s the plan anymore.”_

_A pause._

_“They were saving for retirement together before they were together?”_

_“I told you. They were together for a long time without even knowing it.”_

_“Alright. Back to the school thing. What about your mother, she told me she could have paid for school, even fought for you to stay in your school. So what is the real reason?”_

_A bite of a lip._

_“I heard mum talking about medical bills and legal fees, too. I wanted too…”_

_“Grace, it’s alright.”_

_“…I didn’t want to be the reas…”_

_A sigh._

_“Kukui High’s cheer program is a thousand times better, okay?”_

_A frown. A note written down._

_Another sigh._

~~~

“I want to go to public school,” She had told her father, one afternoon, in the back of the Camaro, as Steve pulled out of the parking lot.

“Excuse me?” Danno asked.

“I want to go to public school.”

Danno turned around a bit in his seat. “Why?”

Grace shrugged, picking at her skirt. “It’s a lot of money.”

Danno sighed. “Don’t worry about that stuff, okay? That’s on me and your mom and we can afford to send you to private school just fine.”

She sighed, already having a list of reasons ready. “Kukui High School’s cheer program has made it to nationals the last three years. My school barely makes the state competitions, and when they do, they place lousy. I only really get to compete with the summer camp program. If I’m going to get any kind of cheer scholarship, Kukui High is my best bet.”

It was Danno’s turn to sigh. “You’re going to have to talk to your mother.”

She bit her lip. “Can’t you do that?”

“If you really want to do this, that’s a conversation you’re going to have to have with her. That is one of my conditions.”

“’One of?’” Grace repeated, hopes dropping. This was supposed to be an endeavor to help alleviate her parent’s stress, something she could do to help, instead of flopping around and getting in the way. They could focus on their relationships and on Charlie and worry less about her.

“The first of. You do that, then we’ll talk some more.”

“Danno,” She whined, already not looking forward to that conversation.

“This isn’t about the math homework, is it Gracie?” Steve asked, eyes on her in the rearview mirror.

Danno perked, eyebrows raised at Steve, then turned to her with Steve’s question repeated on his face. She rolled her eyes and sighed again. The math was on her list of pros, but it was not on the list to use to convince Danno.

“That might be part of it, but the cheerleading is the biggest thing.”

_Lie._

“I just. Maybe I want to be a normal kid going to a normal school.”

_Less of a lie._

“Grace…” Danno said. “If this is really what you want to do, okay. I’m in your corner, in all things, you know that. Show me you want it though, okay? Fight for it.”

“She’s got a mean right hook, Danno,” Steve said with a smirk and a wink in the rear-view mirror. “She’ll be fine.”

~~~

_“It sounds like they want what’s best for your education.”_

_“Yeah, well. I was at Kukui High the next week.”_

_“How’d that conversation with your mom go?”_

_“How do you think it went? It was almost a year ago and she’s still mad about it.”_

~~~

**About a year ago**

~~~

“Hey Kiddo.”

Grace looked up from over her knees. She was curled up on one of the lounge chairs on the back lanai of her father’s house. Steve had peaked out from inside the sliding door, where voices could be heard, loud and angry, about her. She had done this, they were yelling because of her.

She was trying to help, and they were fighting again.

“Hi,” She greeted meekly.

“You doing okay?” He asked her, his hands in his pockets.

“I think I’m having flashbacks to before the divorce.”

It was supposed to be a joke, but Steve’s face did something funny. Something between concern and understanding. She needed to work on her comedic timing.

He took a deep breath, stepping through the sliding door and closing it again, and moved to sit next to her on the lounge chair. He offered her a hug, arms open as he sat down. She fell into his side willingly, and with a plop. He rocked her a little as he held her. Steve was always good at the hug thing; she could always count on him for a good one. They sat there, listening to muted voices yell about her education, her living situation, her cheerleading… among other things, for a few moments.

Grace soaked up the hug.

“You know that’s not all about you, right?”

She nodded.

“So what’s the real reason you don’t want to go to private school anymore?”

She bit her lip. “Will you promise not to tell Danno?”

“No,” He answered.

She laughed at that, “What happened to building trust?”

He shrugged, his arms still firmly around her, warm and comforting. “I think Danno’s had enough secrets kept from him lately.”

She bit her lip again. Uncle Steve had a point.

“You both have,” He said resolutely, his arms tightening slightly. “So what’s the real reason?”

She pushed back from his chest to look up at him, and she found him looking at her patiently.

“Have you ever felt helpless?” His eyebrows furrowed together and she tried again. “Like everyone around you has a job for something you think is important and you’re told to just… not to worry about it?”

To his credit, he didn’t miss a beat. “Charlie?”

She nodded. “Everyone has a job. I’m his sister. His full sister. I should have been the genetic match. And no one would have known mum lied if I was. And don’t get me wrong, I’m glad that Danno is, and I’m glad everyone knows the truth… it’s just… Stan is paying for it all, and mum is taking care of Charlie, and Danno is doing this incredible thing, and I’m just…” Her voice cracked and she hated it. She really didn’t want to cry. Not in front of Steve, not about Charlie. “He’s my little brother and I’m doing nothing.”

He pulled her back into a hug, kissed the top of her head, like he was prone to do, and sighed, the force of it tickling her scalp. She put all her willpower into not crying.

“I know the feeling.”

She closed her eyes. “Paying for my school is just one less thing they all have to worry about. Looks like that backfired.”

“I’ll talk to Danno, if you want,” He told her. She nodded against his chest. “And you’re doing more than you think you are.”

She shook her head.

“I was there with you when you visited Charlie in the hospital. He was so happy to see his sister since you’ve been living with Danno. He was feeling bad and you were there distracting him and you love him and that’s so important Grace.”

She pulled back again, dabbing at the bottom of her eye, shaking her head. It wasn’t enough.

“It is,” He said firmly.

~~~

_A sniff._

_An offer of a tissue box._

_“Are you often worried about your little brother?”_

_A shrug._

_“He’s better now; he got pretty sick again a few months ago but... As long as… he’ll be okay. But it was scary there for a while.”_

_“Sounds like Steve was there for you during all of that.”_

_A grin._

_“He was.”_

_“How?”_

_“He’d take me surfing or he’d help me with my homework or he’d watch movies with me when he didn’t have to. It took my mind off things. It was really sweet.”_

_“So, loving you and distracting you… it was enough?”_

_A blink._

_A realization._

_An unexpected hug in the waiting room._

~~~


	3. Chapter Three

~~~

_“Hello Nahele.”_

_“Hi. You made my sister cry. Her eyes were red.”_

_A chuckle._

_“That can happen in here.”_

_“Why was she crying?”_

_“We were talking about your family, anything more than that, you’ll have to ask her.”_

_A jaw clinching._

_“So, Nahele, tell me about yourself.”_

_A shrug._

_“Don’t you have my file?”_

_“Well, yes. But it’s just paper.”_

_“What do you want to know?”_

_“Do you like your current foster family?”_

_A nod._

_“What do you like about them?”_

_A shrug._

_“Do you want to stay living with them?”_

_A pause._

_“Did they say they didn’t want me anymore?”_

_“No, quite the opposite.”_

_A relieved sigh._

_“Are you scared they’ll give you back to the state?”_

_A hesitation. A nod._

_“Why?”_

~~~

**Starting in 2010**

~~~

“What’s going to happen to me now?” Nahele asked the doctor, as they wheeled his mother away. He wouldn’t get to go to the funeral, and the grave wouldn’t have a fancy headstone, and he wouldn’t see the little plastic marker with her name on it for years.

“We called CPS, they’ll be here soon,” The doctor said without looking up from his paperwork. He snapped a notebook shut and clicked his pen. His mother’s life over with an absent click of a pen. “You can sit here until they do, okay?”

He slept on a couch in an office that night, while a woman named Leia did paperwork with his name on it and fell asleep at her desk.

When he asked to see his dad, they told him not tonight. He wouldn’t see him for months. He’d have to be the one that delivered the news that his mother had died and he’d have to do it with a bit of plexiglass between them while a grumpy foster mother sat uncaring in another room.

The day after his mother died he was put in a busy foster home with half a dozen other kids and every time he cried about his mom, about losing his home, and his life… he’d get teased. His foster siblings would complain about the crying, call him a big baby, and his foster mother sighed with frustration when his eyes welled up and turned red, but offered him no comfort.

He was there a few weeks before Leia showed back up and took him to a group meeting with a dozen other kids who were supposed to talk about their problems. Kids who were in and out of juvie talked about the crimes they had committed, girls with stories about bad homes and boyfriends and problems worse than anything Nahele had to deal with, and hopeful stories about foster families that sounded nothing like the crowded home Nahele was living in. It made Nahele grow up faster than he ever thought he could.

That first family only kept him long enough to get some extra cash, he figured. Two months to the date when they called Leia and said he was too much. Always crying, never helpful, disrupting the other children at night. He was a child that had just lost his mother and he was told that he was too much to deal with.

The next house was a couple with two other foster kids on Maui. Leia passed his case onto a case worker on that island and he was there for almost two years. They were quiet kids, who kept their heads down, and he was given a list of simple chores, and as long as he did what he was told, he wasn’t yelled at. He had his own room, and he was never hungry, or fighting for the right to cry alone at night. That house wasn’t so bad at first, in retrospect, but it wasn’t good either.

He called her ‘mom’ once. Only once. He was never doing that again.

He remembered what it was to have good. With his mother, where it was warm and soft and someone held him close when he cried and he never doubted he was important. So nothing was going to come close. Not really.

That foster father was suddenly arrested for dealing and his wife’s foster license was revoked under suspicion of criminal activity and he was sent to another home back on Oahu. They had requested only girls, and Nahele was only a ‘until we can find you another placement’ kind of foster kid, but Nahele looked at his foster sisters in that house and worried. They never said anything, and they wore smiles, so it really wasn’t his place, but he still worried about them.

He floated around a couple more foster homes then, never under the same roof for more than a couple of months. He missed a lot of school, lost a lot of his belongings, and grew more and more disenfranchised with the world with every new move. Places with locks on the fridges, locks on the doors, timers on the computers, no friends over, no television after four, lists of chores Nahele didn’t know how to do but had to learn anyway ‘or else, boy!’ All those horror stories Nahele heard at that one, single group meeting he went to were coming true.

‘Another placement’ turned out to be a group boy’s home one step up from juvie on the day he turned thirteen. It was full of boys that were fresh out of juvie, or close to going in it, and Nahele was not prepared for what they were going to do to him.

~~~

_“What did they do?”_

_“Does it matter?”_

_A gentle shrug. “Just ballpark it for me.”_

_“They… They beat me up, and then they beat up another kid, and blamed me. They did it twice. I never figured out why. I was told if it happened a third time, I’d go to juvie. No one believed me that they were setting me up for some reason, and I knew I wouldn’t… I couldn’t… I didn’t want to go to juvie. So I ran away.”_

_A nod._

_“You were on the street for a long while.”_

_Silence._

_“So tell me about Steve.”_

_“The Commander? What about him?”_

_“You stole his car, he took you in. What’s that make you feel?”_

_Silence._

_“Nahele, these sessions with me have nothing to do with your placement with Steve and Danny, and unless you give me permission, or it’s about something that’s dangerous, I can’t tell anyone else.”_

_“I know the drill. You aren’t the first state mandated counselor I’ve been to, you know.”_

_“I see a lot of types of families, foster families included, but the Williams-Edwards-McGarrett clan is definitely a new one for me.”_

_A grin._

_“Is it strange, Nahele?”_

_“What?”_

_“Being in such a… unique situation.”_

_“You mean… that they are both dudes?”_

_“Is that a problem for you?”_

_“No.”_

_“Good. So tell me about them. I’m here to… mediate and figure out how this family works. According to everyone I’ve talked to, you are very much a part of this family.”_

_“What do you want me to say?”_

_“Whatever you want to say. You can talk about your foster dads; your sister sure had a lot to say about their relationship. Or, your sister or brothers! You can talk about them. You can talk about school or if you’re seeing anyone or any of your past houses or your mom or your dad. Anything you want.”_

_A beat. A deep breath._

_“If Steve and Danny don’t pass your tests, they aren’t going to get custody of Charlie. And if they don’t get custody of Charlie, then Grace’s custody is on shaky ground, and if they lose both of them, then it’s only a matter of time before me and Jack are back in the system.”_

_“I’m not here to decide who gets custody of Charlie.”_

_“No, but a judge reading your recommendation will.”_

_“So you think this is a test.”_

_“Isn’t it?”_

_“I don’t think it is. But you do. The last thing I want is to recommend breaking up a stable family.”_

_Another beat._

_“Do you think you’re in a stable family, Nahele?”_

_A blink._

_“It’s the most stable family I’ve had since my mom died.”_

_“How so?”_

_Another shrug._

_“Steve and Danny, I guess.”_

_~~~_

**Nahele’s first night as Steve’s foster son**

_~~~_

Steve had to be going a bit mental with his house torn up. There were building materials in the living room, and boxes marked with large “MARY”s written on them scattered everywhere, and furniture that really needed to be replaced, and furniture that needed to be built, and tools to start tearing up the hardwood floor upstairs were scattered, and cardboard and Styrofoam from the box the crib came in were all over the downstairs, and Jack’s play pin was set up in the corner by the TV but receiving blankets and diaper bags were over flowing around it.

Jack was laying back, content to play with his own feet and watch his foster dad scramble around the obstacle course that had become his living room. Nahele was doing his best to clean up as they went, but Steve dove right in, seeming to want to do everything at once.

Building Nahele’s new room, setting up a room for Jack, cooking dinner, shopping for furniture. Despite Mrs. Whitaker’s broken back, and their joint decision to move on from being foster parents, the Whitakers agreed to keep Nahele long enough for Steve’s foster license to go through (expedited suddenly by a friend of Steve’s, or so Nahele had gathered, so the move into the house was almost a month sooner than Steve was expecting.) The social worker said Steve had two weeks and Steve had off work to get everything set up at his house before the final inspection, and to Nahele that sounded doable, but Steve was on a mission. Making everything a mission, Nahele would soon learn, meant Steve tended to go from zero to nine thousand in about six seconds.

Danny and Grace showed up about seven proverbial seconds too late.

“Whoa, babe,” Danny said, as he walked in. Steve turned around, receiving blanket on his shoulder and a handful of bubble wrap. “I was gone for like, five hours. When did the hurricane hit?”

“Haha, very funny,” Steve replied, opening his arms for a hug for Grace. “They weren’t supposed to deliver the lumber until Monday, but they came today, and the furniture people have only dropped off half of the delivery so I don’t know what we have and don’t have, and Jack needed a place to be tonight because I wasn’t going to let him stay there if I could do something about it. They were keeping him in the back room. That’s what they called it, Danny! Like he was surplus product!”

“I’m not critiquing the parental instincts, babe. Just… you look frazzled.”

Steve sighed, glancing at Nahele out the corner of his eye. “Thanks for that. Did you come to help or did you want to insult me some more?”

“I think you should insult him some more,” Grace teased. She had made her way over to Jack’s play pin and was already making faces at him from over the top of him.

Danny grinned. “I think I agree with my daughter, because you look like you need a break.”

“He does,” Nahele spoke up from the landing. “He’s been going since eight this morning when you guys picked me up. We went and bought a bunch of furniture and crib, and we came here and put Jack’s crib together before we could pick up Jack. We’ve had him since about noon.”

Steve let out a long sigh.

“You know the baby wasn’t part of the plan, right?” Danny asked, pointing at him, where he was reaching up and playing with Grace’s hair.

“I couldn’t leave him, Danny,” Steve said quietly, and with a tone that was somehow both sure and terrified at the same time. “He’s a baby and he was alone with nowhere to go. I couldn’t leave him.”

Danny’s face and shoulders relaxed and he stepped over some kind of shelving unit still in the box, to grab Steve’s arm in a comforting move. Nahele watched as Steve leaned towards it, Danny’s thumb trying to sooth him.

“I know. We’ll make it work.” They shared a steady gaze for a moment before, “You can do this.”

Steve nodded and they went to work and miracles did happen because Nahele was sleeping in a room with his own bed that night, even if the sheets didn’t fit yet.

_~~~_

__“I don’t know how, but they work. They’ve been through a lot, and it shows.”_ _

__“Do you trust them?”_ _

__A nod._ _

__“I still don’t know when the two of them became official.”_ _

__A chuckle._ _

__“When I first met them I thought they were together already. I mean, Danny was calling Steve ‘babe’ and saying he loved him. Steve was talking about how he was glad he had his family with Danny. If it weren’t for Catherine, I would have kept on thinking they were together, but just not… a very PDA couple, ya’ know?”_ _

__“I’ve heard a bit about Catherine. She’s the Commander’s ex-girlfriend?”_ _

__A nod._ _

__“They were together for a long time, I’ve gathered.”_ _

__“He was going to propose. I picked up the ring for him.”_ _

__“Really? What made him not propose?”_ _

__“She left him before he could. He was torn up about it for a while. Danno gave us all the orders. That was around the time of Charlie’s transplant and Danny was pretty pre-occupied. So all of us… stepped up to the plate, I guess. Getting him to do things with us. Keep him busy.”_ _

__“So where was she before that summer?”_ _

__A shrug._ _

__“I don’t really know. You’ll have to ask the Commander.”_ _

__A scribble on a notepad._ _

__“So. Steve was your foster dad first.”_ _

__A nod._ _

__“For you, I guess, when did it feel like Danny actually became a foster parent?”_ _

__“Um. I guess when I was invited to the Williams Family Christmas in New Jersey.”_ _

_~~~_

**A very, very, very, very, very long plane ride to Colorado, and a flight cancellation because snow ( _“I’ve never seen snow before!” “And this is why children need to get off tropical islands every now and then, Steven.”_ ) that led to spending Christmas evening in an airport lounge with a grumpy teenage girl fresh off a bad Christmas Eve with her mom, a four year old who really didn’t want to sit still, a five month old baby who was completely and totally cool with being in a plane but oh no way was he going to spend the night on the floor of an airport and made sure you knew it, and two men who could argue about the importance of oxygen**

~~~

“How, please, explain to me, how I am responsible for a snow storm!”

“I don’t know, I haven’t figured it out yet, but I will.”

“Look, your whole family is going to be there until Monday so you’ll still get to see them. We’re already rebooked on the first flight out in the morning. What more do you want Danny?”

Danny sighed, lowering his head into his hands.

“Danno?” Charlie asked.

He looked up with a grin. “Yeah, bud?”

“Why are you fighting?”

“They aren’t fighting, Charlie,” Grace said, which kind of threw everyone, as she had large headphones sitting on her head and a tablet in her lap. Nahele was kind of convinced she was blocking out the world. “It’s called bickering. It’s what you do when you’re in love.”

“Grace,” Danny reprimanded, steadfastly not looking at Steve. She sighed and turned back to the tablet.

“Is that what you and mum are doing, then?” He asked her. “Because you love each other?”

Grace looked stricken, and then she focused back on her tablet, ignoring her brother’s question. Charlie bit his lip.

Then, just as Nahele was about to ask if he could take Charlie to work off some energy, over the loud speaker, “Can the parent of Nahele Huikala,” There was a stumble over his last name, but that really wasn’t new, “Please come to the service desk. Again, a parent of Nahele Huikala, please come to the service desk. Thank you.”  
Nahele sat up straighter and looked wide eyed at Steve, who had just gotten Jack asleep on his chest.

“Of course,” Steve said, motioning to the baby.

Danny winked, “I got it babe,” Then, “Hey Grace,” She looked up. “Help him keep up with Charlie, yeah?”

She nodded reluctantly. This time it was her biting her lip.

Nahele got a clap on the shoulder. “Come on.”

As it turns out, Nahele’s seat had come up double booked.

“What’s that mean?”

“It means that while the rest of your family is booked for the seven am flight, you are not. The other gentleman has a medical emergency and has to take precedence. I can get you on the eleven thirty flight.”

Danny sighed and then tapped his fingers on the desk. “Can he take my seat and I’ll take the later flight?”

“I can fly alone,” Nahele offered. “I don’t want to be a bother.”

“You are not a bother,” Danny had turned to him completely.

“Considering you are traveling with two children under the age of six and your… companion has opted to hold the baby for this particular leg of your journey, it’s inadvisable that he travel alone with both of them.”

“Okay, I get that, but I’m not putting my son…” He pointed to Nahele, who’s heart jumped up to too many beats per minute. Danny didn’t seem to notice, “…on a flight, by himself, while most of this country is dealing with snow storms. There could be an emergency landing in another city and then suddenly my son is stranded in a strange city alone. I’m not going to let that happen.”

“I understand sir, how can we help you fix this?”

“Okay,” Danny leaned forward again. “What if we split up the babies? Are there two seats open on the eleven thirty flight?”

As it turns out, there were, and Nahele was shocked to listen to Danny book the seats for him and his ‘two sons,’ (and boy, did that do things to Nahele’s stomach,) Nahele and Jack, while Steve would be taking Grace and Charlie on the earlier flight.

“Are you sure?” Steve asked. “You don’t want to be with Grace and Charlie?”

Nahele had already asked him that, but Danny had brushed it off.

“Ideal would be the six of us on the same flight, because that would mean less anxiety for me, honestly, but, Jack didn’t settle down for you the whole flight from Hawaii, he wanted me, and I’m the one that usually feeds him of a morning, so he’s used to me, and the sooner we get Charlie out of an airport, the better.”

Right on cue, Charlie jumped down with a loud yell, making Jack jump a little on Steve’s chest, from where he was standing behind Grace across from them.

“Charlie!” Danny and Steve called at the same time.

“No jumping!” Danny finished. Charlie sighed and sat down with a huff. It wasn’t the first time he had been warned. “What did we say?”

Charlie looked down and Nahele wondered if Danny would be cool with Nahele taking him to play on the moving sidewalk.

“You’re sure?” Steve checked again.

“Hey,” Danny said, leaning in. Nahele was supposed to be listening to music, but he had taken a page out of Grace’s book, and was only wearing headphones. He could still hear as Danny said, “They aren’t just your kids, and they aren’t just my kids, they’re our kids, right?”

Nahele watched over Danny’s shoulder as Steve’s blinked, his eyes softened, and he gently smiled. He nodded, but they didn’t break off looking at each other for a very, very long moment. Then Steve’s eyes flicked down to Danny’s mouth, and Steve licked his lips, and then they met eyes again and pulled away from looking at each other quickly.

Grace was watching them too, smile wide on her face, and she and Nahele shared a moment of excitement.

Progress. They were so close.

_~~~_

_“So, Danny claimed you as his.”_

_A nod._

_“And you spent Christmas evening in an airport?”_

_“Yep. We had a nice Christmas meal of subway sandwiches.”_

_A laugh._

_“What about your sister? You two got excited about witnessing a moment between your dads?”_

_“Yeah, Grace was really invested in that.”_

_“You weren’t?”_

_“Not as much, and I helped when she wanted me to. But, it really is better now they are together. She was right.”_

_“And before?”_

_A shrug._

_“Not like it was horrible. I just makes more sense now.”_

_“Your sister calls it ‘Parent Trapping.’”_

_A smile._

_“Yeah, I know.”_

_~~~_

**Grace’s first day at Kukui High School**

~~~

“You didn’t transfer schools for the whole getting Steve and Danny together thing, did you?” Nahele asked her after school, her busy with her locker. She was focusing hard on the little sheet of paper with her combination on it.

“Of course not,” She replied. “I have lots of reasons for my transfer.”

“Because your old school was a nice school,” He told her.

“So is this school,” She shrugged, spinning her locker lock once.

“This school is a public school.”

“What’s that have to do with it? It’s also Uncle Chin, Uncle Jerry, Aunt Kono, and Uncle’s Steve’s alma mater. It obviously turns out awesome people.” She twisted the lock to the final number, her tongue sticking out between her lips. Lifting on the latch and-

Nothing.

She pouted, and huffed. “I haven’t been able to open it all day! I just want to go home!”

“Here,” He said with a chuckle. “Spin it three times to reset it, like this.” Then he showed her, the way Steve had showed him. “Try again.”

She sighed and started.

“Anyway,” She said as she worked. “While it may not be the reason I transferred schools, you make a valid point.”

“Uh oh, what’s that?”

“This can totally be used for Parent Trapping.”

“Grace!”

“No,” She said, pausing her work. “You’ve been around a few months, and while I’ve never seen Uncle Steve more excited about something as he is about fostering you, you haven’t dealt with it for as long as I have.”

“You’re trying to set up our dads and I’m not even living with Steve yet!” He said, not realizing what he had just said for the first time.

He wouldn’t realize until later that night that it was the first time he had referred to Steve as his father, foster or otherwise. The moment, however, was not lost on Grace. He’d learn over the next year that his foster sister had a fantastic memory, and an eye for seeing patterns, and a knack for putting together puzzles. To her, their family was a puzzle in a half a dozen pieces scattered all over the island, and she felt duty bound to put them all together. Of course, he didn’t know that about her that day in the hallway of their high school, not yet.

“Don’t you feel… skeevy?”

She shrugged. “Not really.” She looked at him, earnestly and full of worry. “Besides, don’t you want Steve to be happy?”

“Of course I do.”

“Well, I want my dad to be happy too. I think this is his best bet for that. Don’t you?”

She absently pulled up on her locker latch and it opened and the happy look on her face made Nahele smile.

He held out a hand and she high fived him happily. “See? It just takes patience to get things to work sometimes.”

“Noted,” She said, dropping off a couple books.

Please note, he didn’t really know Grace at this point, not like he would eventually. Looking back, knowing her, Nahele knew that this was the moment he became a brother to her. It would just take patience to get him to see her as his sister.

Then she continued. “But sometimes you might have to lock your dads in a closet and not let them out until they’ve talked about their feelings.”

“We’re not going to lock them in a closet!”

“Why not?”

“Isn’t that…” He stumbled over what to say for a moment. “A little… on the nose?”

She rolled her eyes and smiled and closed her locker door.

_~~~_

_“You guys didn’t lock them in a closet… did you?”_

_“No.”_

_“Good.”_

_A check of the clock._

_“Alright, like I told your dads, like I told Grace, you’ll probably have another one on one session, maybe two, and then a group evaluation which will probably include some exercises. It all depends on how things go. Mostly what I’m here for is how well Steve and Danny can work with Stan and Rachel, but you are very obviously an important part of this family.”_

_A sigh._

_“If it gives you any sort of comfort, everything I’ve heard so far points to your foster dads being very good parents, and they’ve created a very loving home. Any report I make, that will be in it.”_

_A small grin._

_“I will see you the next time, whenever your foster-dads schedule it.”_

_A nod. A hand on a doorknob._

_“Um…”_

_“Yes?”_

_“Do you have the power to take away someone’s parental rights?”_

_“I’ve already told you, I’m not going to take away anyone’s parental rights. I don’t see that as a necessary action with Steve or Danny.”_

_“That’s not what I asked.”_

_A pause._

_“Who are you asking about?”_

_A steadying breath._

_“My biological father.”_

_~~~_


	4. Chapter Four

~~~

_“So, from the sounds of things, Commander, you went from bachelor to father of four, practically overnight.”_

_A chuckle._

_“Well, Charlie wasn’t with us back then like he is now, but… yeah I did.”_

_“Tell, me, how did you expedite the foster care license?”_

_“Uh, I have a lawyer friend who has a social worker friend who helped me to be granted temporary custody, as long as I was actively going to the classes. Once our initial hours were completed, I was granted official foster parent status. That was only a couple weeks after the boys were living with me.”_

_“Yes, Detective, you went with him?”_

_“We were told that with him being a reservist and single he’d need an emergency guardian and… well. It just seemed right?”_

_“You mean to be certified with him.”_

_A shrug._

_“With our jobs and everything, it made sense.”_

_A note. A sigh._

_A couple of grins._

_“Alright. Well, I’ve talked to more people since I last talked to you, and I want to find out how and when you did get together-“_

_A laugh._

_“-but first; I want to ask about Stan.”_

_“Okay.”_

_“Detective, he said that he found strength to file for divorce after a specific conversation with you.”_

_“So he has told me.”_

_“Could you tell me about that night?”_

~~~

**Towards the end of January**

~~~

“There is literally nothing more we can do tonight, okay? Let’s just… go home, see if the kids are still awake, and then just go to sleep. Maybe we’ll have better luck tomorrow.”

“The guy is going to get away, Danny!” Steve argued, the car jerking with him.

Danny grabbed the dashboard. “Whoa, whoa, okay, chill. I want the guy too! But the hotel maid said that she heard him say he’d be back tomorrow morning at ten. We have lost his trail tonight. The only current lead we have is the hotel maid. Can we please go home and pretend today never happened?”  
Steve sighed. Things had been tense between them at work ever since New Years-

~~~

_“What happened on New Year’s?”_

_“That’s a longer story and you wanted to talk about Stan.”_

_“Right. Sorry. Continue.”_

~~~

-and it was honestly throwing the whole team. They’d already had four real cases since the New Year, and Steve had been working diligently to make sure that the two of them weren’t paired up. Danny would be lying if that wasn’t stressful in itself.

He’d been working up to confronting Steve about it for weeks. At first it was a matter of pride, but then they got off that plane and life started up again and with four kids to wrangle, becoming a landlord, an ex-wife out of the country, a task force with dangerous criminals to catch, and an emotionally stunted partner shutting him out…

Danny really missed his friend. How many days did he sit on Steve’s beach after a long day hoping he’d come out and sit with him, and he could talk about his day or ask for advice or rant or vent or just sit in silent support.

No.

They’d gotten off track and everything Steve said had been right in what he said on that plane, which only confirmed Danny’s pessimistic tendencies about expecting the worst and Danny was trying really hard not to expect for everything to fall apart right then and there.

~~~

_“Wow, okay. What happened?”_

_“I messed up.”_

_“No, you didn’t, Steve.”_

_“Yes, I did.”_

_A shared look. A sigh._

_“But that’s for another time. This is about Stan.”_

_“Steve…”_

_“Stan, Danny.”_

_A shared look._

_“Right, sorry. Stan. Stan had called me that night in the car.”_

~~~

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Danny said into the phone. Steve glanced at him out the side of his eye. “Stan? Where are you?”

 _“I’m at a bar Danny. I probably shouldn’t have told you that.”_ His voice sounded slurred. He had to have been drunk.

“Do I need to call you a cab?”

_“No. No no no. No. I have a room here. I need to talk to you. Can we talk? I’d like to talk to you. Can you come here? Let’s talk here. It’s nice here.”_

“I don’t know if meeting you tonight is a good idea-“

_“Please Danny.”_

Steve sighed, but pulled over. It sounded like their plan to go home, check on the kids, and ignore each other had to be postponed and he sensed that.

“Alright. Okay, I’ll come. Are you sure?”

Putting the car in park, Steve sat back and waited, blowing a large, annoying, loud puff of air out of his nose. Danny glanced over at him. He had his arms crossed, sitting back from the wheel, his eyes studying the horn, waiting to see where this phone call was going.

Danny grimaced at the stony silence.

“Where are you?”

The Hotel Bar. What a cliché, honestly. Stan, sitting there in a rumpled suit, obviously a few drinks in. He had a glass of water in front of him, though. Good. That had been Danny’s condition that he would come.

Steve had stayed back in the car to call and check on the kids and Danny had trust enough left in him that he knew he wouldn’t just up and leave him stranded at the Hilton in the middle of the night.

Stan spotted him, made a sad face, and then looked back down at his glass of water. Danny put his hands in his pockets and took a steadying breath before making his way across the bar.

“Hello Danny,” He said, voice rough. He already sounded more sober than he did on the phone. This was good. “My lawyer is going to kill me.”

“Why?”

“I called you. And I’m drunk. You can use that.”

Danny slid himself into the barstool next to his ex-wife’s husband and his daughter’s step-father and his son’s other dad and man when did his life turn into this?

“I’m not going to use it.”

“I wouldn’t blame you if you did.”

“Why did you call me, Stan?”

Danny watched as the man stirred the straw in his drink, and picked at the corner of the little square napkin coaster under it. “Charlie.”

He figured as much. With Rachel up and leaving, with no warning he might add, Charlie was living with Danny and Steve. Stan had been on some business trip, the one he had once a month like clockwork on the mainland, Danny would later learn. Rachel had even planned around it, dropping Charlie off on Steve’s front porch. _Grace_ didn’t even know about Rachel’s trip.

“She changed you to the biological father on his birth certificate. Went to court for it and everything.”

“I know,” Danny couldn’t figure out why. He had gotten the court petition back in November and his lawyer had said that he could agree to it and it would help with any future custody cases, so of course Danny agreed. He was also busy with a thousand other things (Aunt Deb, Mary and Joan, Steve away for reserves training, the holiday, a particularly grueling case involving a little girl that looked nothing like Grace but made him think about her every time he saw her picture on the work screens) he didn’t even stop to think about what it meant. Just that it was one less thing for him to worry about.

“She had a copy of it sent to my office,” Stan said. “I had no idea it was happening until it was already done.”

Danny honestly had no idea how to respond.

“I think it was her way of making sure I stayed married to her.”

“What?”

Stan turned on the barstool to face Danny completely. His white button down had some kind of yellowing stain near the buttons and his eyes were dark. Danny knew that look well; he wore it for years after the divorce, after losing custody of Grace, after Rachel’s second marriage, his first six months in Honolulu.

Lost.

“We talked about a divorce months ago. She knows it’s been on my mind since I learned everything, but I told her I wasn’t going to do anything about it until Charlie was out of the woods. Or-. Now he is… so.” He looked misplaced for a moment, breathing stunted. “She made sure you had legal means to keep Charlie, so if I wanted to be in his life, I’d have to stay in hers.”

Danny’s head hurt at the thought. That was so manipulative, so dark, so wrong. What had happened to make her… do this?

“When did she turn into this person?”

Stan only took another sip of his water in response, making a face at the taste. Danny didn’t blame him. He could use a drink himself.

“I mean… That wasn’t the woman I married. That’s not even the woman I divorced. Wow.”

“Yeah. I talked to my lawyer today, Danny,” Stan continued. “You have a case, a real good one, but I don’t, not if I file for divorce from Rachel. They won’t grant me anything more than visitation, if that, if Rachel wanted to fight it. I’ve only paid all his medical bills, and his day care, and his-“ Stan’s face broke at this point, and he turned away from Danny to gather himself with a shaky breath, but he failed. He turned back with wet eyes. “He’s my son, Danny.”

Danny reached forward and then made an aborted move to lay a hand on his shoulder. “I know.”

Stan froze, waiting on another man’s words.

“But he’s my son too. I can’t just back away from that.”

Stan looked back down to his water at Danny’s words, defeated, and taking in another shaky breath.

“So,” Danny found resolve, having come to this conclusion a long, long time ago, back when he thought he’d have to fight for visitation. He came up with a plea to ask of Stan. It was only fair he offered at least that now. “As long as you don’t try to take him from me, I won’t try to take him from you. Divorce or not.”

Stan looked up at him at that, wide eyed and expectant, hope written all over his face.

Danny rolled his eyes. “I mean, I’m still going to go through the court because Rachel seems to be... what… going off the deep end? That scares me.” Stan made a face of agreement at that, blowing out air in a quick scoff. “But Stan. I’ve been there. Losing Grace’s custody case the first time? That was… was… the lowest point in my life.”

“How’s it going to work? He’s got three parents? Two dads? Who, what…”

Danny shrugged. “We’ll work it out. Preferably when we’re both sober. And with…” He sighed again. “Do you know when Rachel is going to be back?”

Stan shook his head. “Her father’s been sick. That’s her excuse.” He scoffed again. “If you haven’t noticed, she tends to run away from conflict.”

“When she wanted to get away from me, so she moved to Hawaii, so yeah. I’ve noticed.”

Stan broke into sad laughter after that, and it quickly turned into light sobs. Briefly Danny wondered if he was a particularly emotional man, or if he was just an emotional drunk. He turned to Danny again. “You’re really not going to keep him from me?”

Danny shook his head. “Why can’t we both be his father? You’ll be ‘dad’ and I’ll be ‘Danno.’ Why not?”

“Isn’t that complicated?”

“Sure,” He shrugged. “But can our kids really have too many people that love them?” Stan’s crying seemed to subside at that and he took his first truly, steady breath at that. Danny smiled. “You taught me that.”

“What?”

He sat back, leaning against the bar on one arm, but still facing Stan. “When Grace was kidnapped, you took a bullet for her.” Stan rolled his eyes and made a move to brush him off. “No, that’s a big deal to me.”

“I love Grace.”

He said it like it was simple. Like he was breathing. His name was Stan and he lived in Hawaii and he loved Grace Williams, like it was easy. And that’s why Danny was doing this.

“I know you do. And that was when I stopped feeling hurt about you being in her life.” Danny found himself swallowing hard and his own eyes wetting. “I knew… From the moment I knew she was going to exist, I knew that I’d take a bullet for her. No question about it. I wouldn’t hesitate. And in that moment, neither did you.”

Stan licked his lips and raised his chin. “I’d do it again.”

“I know. That’s why I don’t want to take Charlie from you.”

“Thank you, Danny,” He said.

Then his face broke again, and he fell forward, elbows on the bar, heels of his palms pushed into his eyes. Danny finally ran a hand over his shoulder, in what he hoped was a reassuring motion, ready to start talking the man into retiring to his hotel room for the night. But, of course, Stan chose that moment to turn and lean towards Danny and throw his arms around him in a very grateful and much unexpected hug.

Things were leaning more towards ‘emotional drunk,’ then.

“Thank you, Danny,” He repeated as Danny cumbersomely returned the hug. He realized Stan was getting heavier, leaning more weight on him, and the thought that he should maybe get Stan to his room became the new plan.

Danny looked over Stan’s shoulder at that point, and saw Steve standing awkwardly near the entrance of the bar. No hands in his pockets, no crossed arms, no leaning against the pillar, no choosing one of the many empty tables to wait out Danny’s conversation… just standing, watching, biting on his lip, like he had forgotten he was standing in the middle of a hotel bar.

Then he realized Danny was looking at him, shook himself, and then made a face that said _‘do you need back up?’_ and Danny made a face back that hopefully said _‘not really but if you could help me get him to his room, that’d be great’_ and Steve came over at that, and without saying a word to one another, they got Stan to his room.

~~~

_“He and I worked out a plan with Charlie after that.”_

_A satisfied nod. A note._

_“You called Rachel ‘manipulative.’”_

_“Well, at that point, we didn’t… She had a lot on her plate at the time, and has since then made efforts with everyone so…” A loss for words. “…she’s getting better.”_

_“Good.”_

_Another note._

_“So you trust Stan with your kids. What about Nahele and Jack?”_

_“He helps out with them too, sometimes, and even Grace has stayed with him a few times.”_

_“The Whitakers like to help, but all four at once is rough on them, and my sister Mary is a great help too, and Daisy – as awesome as she is – is still going to school. But Stan is a great dad.”_

_A nod of agreement._

_“Tell me about Daisy.”_

_“Well, just after my parental leave ended, I put Jack in day care. Grace and Nahele were old enough they could be alone for a few hours, and Charlie was in his specialty daycare, and this was before Rachel went on her… what are we calling it?”_

_“Shore leave?”_

_A grin._

_“Before Rachel went home to England, then. It was about a week of me being back at work full time to realize day care was not the solution for us.”_

_“Why’s that?”_

_“Cop hours.” Said at the same time._

~~~

**The busiest month of Steve’s entire life**

~~~

September turned out to be the busiest month of Steve’s entire life. He acquired two children and he tore up his house and put it back together to accommodate them and he had about three months of foster care classes to fit into four weeks and he had a reserves training week sneak up on him so he had to cash in a decade old favor to postpone it and then he started to worry about the kids when he was on reserves weeks and Danny started going to classes too and that was literally just the first two weeks, not to mention one child was a teenager and the other was an infant. Two extremes of the spectrum. He was so focused on passing his home inspection and his foster care certification and a thousand other things, he was so thankful that he could have parental leave because there was no way he could have handled the first two weeks of September while on the job.

And there was no way he could have survived it without Danny.

Without asking, Danny had come over, stayed the first few nights to help, and then Jack got his first ear infection.

“Every kid gets sick, Steve,” Danny tried to reassure him.

“Yeah, but _this_ kid got sick the moment he moved into my house,” He said as Jack whined into Steve’s neck, all cried out. “They are going to realize that placing children with me before my certification was finished was a risky move, and then I’ll get penalized, and Nahele will have to go back to a group home and-“

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Danny interrupted. “I’m the pessimistic one in this marriage, got it? Do not steal my thing. They are not going to take your kids away because one of them has a fever. Even babies get fevers.”

He had stayed with Steve that whole night, at the clinic with Jack, picked up the medicine, cooked the dinner, stayed completely level headed like he hadn’t just defused a bomb. Which he did. That bomb was Steve’s anxiety.

Two weeks into fatherhood and Steve understood why Danny had an anxiety problem when it came to his children. He’d never make fun of him for it again. Ever.

( _“You went from no kids to two kids with a snap of your finger,”_ Danny had tried to tell him one of those late, late nights. _“There will be a learning period where you learn things not even BUD/s classes can teach you.”_

_“But that’s why you’re here, right?”_

_“Of course, babe.”_ )

After the first two weeks, they had a bit of reprieve on Steve’s side of things. Steve had fallen into a bit of routine with Jack, and Nahele had stopped walking around the house like he was scared to touch anything, and the home inspection went off without a hitch and really so much of it was because of Danny.

So it was Danny’s turn to be stressed out.

“I don’t have a home, Steve,” He said, sitting back in Steve’s armchair one afternoon. “I have two children, and I own the house, but I can’t live there! Not with Charlie, anyway. I don’t want Grace there either! If it were just me, ya’ know, it wouldn’t matter-“

“Of course it would!” Steve tried to argue, handing Danny a beer.

“-but I have children Steve! Plural!”

~~~

_“I’m sorry, what was happening?”_

_“I had a rent to own contract with my landlord. They offered a fantastic price, so I took it and bought the place! Of course, I had lived there for years, so I didn’t even think about getting an inspection before signing the paperwork.”_

_“Oh no.”_

_“Oh yeah. So I was getting the inspections done for insurance and mortgage purposes and, well.” A sigh. “There was a problem. I had some erosion issues with the dirt below the foundation, which was causing a bit of a standing water issue, which caused rot in some of the wood and an infestation issue. There was no way I was going to let Charlie stay in that house right after a bone marrow transplant the way it was.”_

_“Oh no.”_

_“So it was deemed dangerous and it was all fixable, done in a matter of months, but it took time, and it was time I didn’t have.”_

~~~

“I’m homeless for the foreseeable future! Grace is going to have to go back to Rachel, I’ll never get to see Charlie as it is, and any chance I had for visitation rights just went out the window without a place of residence. And here I thought establishing home ownership would show stability of parenthood! You know? But no! Like it always does, it backfired! I’m homeless.”

“No you’re not,” Steve told him, sitting down on the couch with him, bottle of water in his hand. “You’ll live here.”

Danny gave him a look. “This has been temporary to help you adjust to having the boys.”

Steve shrugged. “So? Then just stay until all the problems with the house are fixed! Grace is living here just fine!”

So Danny moved in officially. If “officially” meant “made himself at home on the couch” and “stole space in Steve’s dresser and closet instead of living out of a duffle bag” and, at one point while Danny was at work, Steve had taken Grace and let her pick out a bed and a mattress so she wouldn’t be sleeping on the upstairs futon any longer and _“she has a bed at my house we could have just moved here.” “Well, now she has one here too!”_ but Danny ended up paying him back for that one, eventually.

This move did little to alleviate Danny’s stress level, because that next Thursday (they had made it _four whole days_ ) was a junior varsity football game. It was also Grace’s first performance with Kukui High School’s cheer squad, and she was the most nervous Steve had ever seen her for a cheer performance, and he had been to his fair share.

“I’m not ready,” She told him in the pickup on the way to the field. “What if Danno doesn’t make it?”

“He’s going to make it, Grace,” Nahele said from the backseat.

“Yeah, but what if he doesn’t?”

“Then I’ll record it, and we’ll make him watch it on the television when he comes home,” Steve told her. She only continued to bite her nails. “You’ve had dozens of football game performances! What’s going on?”

“It’s my first time with the Kukui Cheer and… and I’m new. I mean, some of those girls already hate me because I made the squad no problem, and now I’m not just in the performance, but I’m being tossed! I just met these people and I’m being tossed!”

“You’re going to be great. You made the squad ‘no problem’ for a reason.”

“Yeah, didn’t you go to special cheer camps all summer?” Nahele asked.

“I have been since fourth grade.”

“Then you’re going to be fine! You can do this.”

Of course, she wasn’t fine. But, Danny had made it! And he had brought Charlie! And for two, wonderful quarters of junior varsity football, Grace went through the motions on the sidelines with a wide smile on her face, and Jack slept despite the noise (he was still on medication for his ears, so that helped, Steve was sure) and Charlie was excited to see Grace and jumped every time she led the stands in a cheer, (Grace smiled back and waved at her brother every time,) and Nahele was smiling and actually starting to understand rules of the game better and-

-and Steve really didn’t want to admit it. How wonderful it was. The kind looks that other parents were sending them, how normal it all felt, how right, with a sleeping baby and a teenage boy who was still hungry after three hotdogs and Charlie being all cute and bonding with Danny who was bright and happy and so very much in love with his children and how easy it would be for Steve to just… fall.

Which is what Grace did.

Fall. Well. More like dropped.

And she broke her leg in two places.

On purpose.

Grace confessed in the ER later that night that she had overheard a couple of the other cheerleaders planning something, that it was jealousy that this new girl had shown up and taken the spot of their friend, but didn’t think they meant for her to get seriously hurt. Of course Danny was livid and Rachel had shown up and learned what happened and demanded Grace go back to private school and that was a whole mess of yelling and crying before Rachel was asked to leave.

They had stepped out into the waiting room, where Steve was watching all three boys sleep. Jack was snug in his carrier and Nahele had slumped down in his chair, legs sprawled out in front of Steve, headphones snug in his ears. He remembered that ability, to shut his eyes and rest his head and just fall asleep anywhere, back before nightmares and shoulder aches and the random bought of insomnia and an infant that still wasn’t sleeping through the night, and wouldn’t for another month or so yet. Jealousy didn’t stand a chance against fondness, though, as Nahele’s head nodded and he took a few seconds to adjust before he was out again.

Steve then turned his attention to Rachel and Danny who came out of the doors nearby, both with waving hands and just a bit less than shouting voices.

“I’m her mother!”

“And she doesn’t want to talk to you right now, so maybe tomorrow when she’s in less pain and not feeling betrayed and embarrassed, okay?”

“You only get to stay because you know that nurse!”

“She is a friend, but that isn’t why.”

“You’re in the ER so often with your job, of course you know the nurses.”

“Madeline is actually Grace’s Aloha Girls troop leader! That’s how I know her! And maybe, if you took the time to actually pay attention to your daughter’s interests beyond the things you want her to do, you’d know that!”

Rachel took a moment for that one, guilt carved into her face like a permanent feature, “What is that supposed to mean?”

Danny rolled his eyes and then wiped his face. “That is a conversation I think we should have with her present. Or, at least I need to make sure I can have that conversation with you first.”

She recovered nicely, shoulders squared, and even if the little shape of guilt still sat on her face, her posture wouldn’t have betrayed her.

“Are you still alright to take Charlie this weekend?” She looked over to Steve, where Charlie had taken over two chairs next to him and curled up tight and fallen asleep with his head on his thigh. She blinked rapidly and turned back to Danny. “With Grace hurt and everything?”

“We’ll be fine. I’ve already called work; I’ve taken care of it.”

So a little past midnight they carted home a loopy Grace with a bright purple cast on the bottom of her leg, and three sleepy boys who all groaned and whined and cried at being jostled into the cars and then again when they were jostled into their beds. Grace was the biggest mess though, tired and sad and hurting and just loopy enough not to understand crutches. Danny carried her and sat her down on the couch while they got the boys corralled into the house, and by the time Danny had gotten back downstairs, she was out, snuggled into Danny’s pillow.

“Looks like your couch is full tonight, Danno,” Steve said with a soft grin.

“Yeah,” Danny agreed, reaching over her for the blanket he had been using for the last few weeks and spread it out over her. “That’s okay. I was worried the pain would keep her up.”

Steve adjusted the pillow beneath her cast with great care. She hummed at the movement of her leg and Steve froze, worried he had hurt her. Once she settled back again, Steve sighed and moved to pat at her hair, still tied up in red and white cheer ribbons. Danny chuckled. Steve looked up and realized that Danny was laughing at him.

“What?”

Danny shrugged.

“What?” He insisted.

“Fatherhood looks good on you,” His eyes were soft, and his face was serious, and Steve’s heart was in his throat. “That’s all.”

Suddenly Steve thanked the dark living room for hiding what was a horribly embarrassing blush. He looked down at Grace and couldn’t quite name what he was feeling. Danny had said that he was a good father… after something he did for Grace. Danny had been building him up, giving him praise with how he was with the boys, being patient with him for weeks. They were words that any friend would say to a guy doing what he was doing. Words of encouragement and understanding about fatherhood that have made a world of difference. But never had he done it with something to do with Grace.

This was new and looking at Danny’s soft eyes, Steve didn’t know what he was feeling.

Like maybe they weren’t just words.

Then he yawned and Danny chuckled again, moving past him towards the stairs. “Come on. Tomorrow is going to be a big day.”

“What’s tomorrow?” Steve asked, following dutifully.

Danny turned, a step up, and they were almost eye to eye. That was a little jarring, and even Danny took half a beat to appreciate the moment, grinning, before, “Have you ever dealt with an active teenage girl with a broken leg before?”

“Oh,” Steve blinked. “No.”

“Neither have I. We’re in this together, my friend.”

Steve grinned and then they went through the motions to get ready for the night. Brushing teeth and losing pants and checking on Jack in his crib still in Steve’s room and they didn’t even realize that Danny had settled himself down into Steve’s sheets until a few hours later, when Steve rolled over and curled his hand around Danny’s arm when Jack started to fuss.

Danny turned towards him in response and the realization they were in the same bed hit them at the same time. The two of them had always had a smaller personal bubble when it came to each other than regular friends would have, but this closeness they found themselves in, Steve’s hand on his arm, their bare feet knocking with each other, Steve’s chin almost resting against Danny’s shoulder, it was close – even for them.

~~~

_Silence._

_“We were so stupid.”_

~~~

But hungry baby knocked them out of it, and Steve rolled out to retrieve Jack’s nightly bottle. He sat down on the bed with him happily eating, before they spoke.

“I was so scared when Grace fell,” Steve confessed, voice low, obviously ignoring how comfortable Danny looked wrapped up in his blankets. Danny grinned; moments like this were becoming more and more often since he had been living here. These silent understandings of ‘there is something here’ that they were both comfortable with happening and not talking about. Steve had all his focus on Jack, but he looked overwhelmed.

Danny stuck his toes under Steve’s leg in response. A quick glance up at him told Danny that Steve was on the verge of expressing emotions. He had learned that sometimes he had to pull at them like a fishing reel; wait for a hook and then pull and pull and struggle and pull sometimes with disappointing results. But sometimes… you just needed to wait and Steve would spill.

“How do you do it?”

“Do what?”

Steve paused for a moment, adjusting Jack and swirling the bottle around a bit. “How you can just… How you…”

Danny moved to sit up at something in his voice, biting at the edges.

“How you can care about them and then just… let them go.”

He sighed. “That’s your job.”

“Yeah,” Steve nodded, not looking up from Jack, eyebrows tight. He then went through the practiced motions of setting the bottle aside and moving Jack to his shoulder to lightly pat his back. His eyes were closed during all of this and Danny found fondness pouring out of him. Steve was having a moment of freaking out. A real one about fatherhood. Not his _‘the house is a mess and we aren’t going to pass my home inspection and Nahele’s gone’_ or _‘they are going to take Jack away for having a fever’_ moments. Those were about having a chance to do this.

This was Steve finally realizing he had been given that chance and had a whole lot of unpredictable in his future. It was also a bit more, something Danny still struggled with from time to time. This wasn’t just Steve freaking out about fucking up or screwing his kids up. He would have those freak outs too, in time. This was about Steve.

“Do you want to know what my dad told me?” Danny asked.

Steve opened his eyes and nodded, still trying to get Jack to belch. Danny grinned.

“Grace was eight days old and Rachel’s mother had flown over to stay with us for that first week and she was leaving and Rachel was a mess. All the hormones… Anyway, we were at the airport in New York and Rachel was saying goodbye and I had Grace and she was crying and crying. She cried the whole way home and we had a wreck on the way home. Nothing big, just, some… kid not paying attention bumped us from behind at a stop light.

“Well, I… I panicked. It was the first real trip I had driven with my daughter in the backseat, and I panicked. Full on cop mode on the guy, didn’t really deserve what I threw at him that day, but. That doesn’t matter.

“I refused to drive the car with her in it until I had it inspected. So I called my dad to come get us and… Rachel said I over reacted but I was a new dad so… I think I was justified.”  
Steve chuckled, and just about then Jack burped and they both had a moment of celebration about it and Steve settled him back down with his bottle.

“But he drove out to get us and Rachel fell asleep in the back with Grace, and on that ride back to New Jersey… I asked him how he did it. Wanna know what he told me?”

“What?”

“He said, ‘Son, I’ve got a four leaf clover in my back pocket. The only advice I can give you is to embrace the fear and be ready for the worst to happen.’”

“That explains a lot about you,” Steve teased. That was a good sign.

Danny shrugged. “They are going to fall, Steve. You can’t stop that.” Steve sighed. “I wish I could sometimes, but you can’t. What you can do is be there when they fall to help them get back up so they can go out and fall again. That’s your job.”

~~~

_Silence again._

_“That’s really good advice.”_

_“You can thank my father.”_

_A smile._

_“Were you guys together at this point?”_

_“Uh.”_

_“…no?”_

_A sigh._

_A giggle. “So stupid.”_

_“You were asking about Daisy though! And we got off track!”_

_~~~ ****_

**Near the end of the busiest month of Steve’s life**

****~~~

Daisy Kaula was a sweet, round faced, slightly chubby, second year education major at Hawaii State. Well, kind of. She had been there three semesters and had declared three different majors for each one and was getting ready to declare oceanography this next semester and really couldn’t make up her mind on what she wanted to do. Go into business with her cousin or be a teacher or a nurse and now, even, she was contemplating some kind of environmentalist because the scientific response to the nuclear bomb off the coast this last summer was actually really interesting to study and she was getting to dive at least twice a month for class credit and that was so cool.  
Or so she told them excitedly during her interview.

“But I really love kids! My sister… she’s quite a few years older than me… she’s got a whole gaggle of them, but they are all teenagers and don’t really need a babysitter anymore. I had a cousin that suggested that I really look into nanny-ing and I’ve taken all the classes and passed the Red Balloon Nanny services background checks like your social worker requires! I know that you both are cops so if you want to do your own, please feel free. I’ve never been arrested, I have a few parking tickets,” She rolled her eyes and waved her hands. “But that’s just campus parking, really. It’s always a mess.” She laughed.

The girl was very talkative and talked with her hands, and that alone was bit endearing. It meant she could keep up with Danny, at least. Compared to the rest of the potentials, she was very… laid back and comfortable. The rest had come in dressed professionally, done up perfect. One young man wore a tie and Steve fought himself so hard not to comment, even if he knew Danny was waiting for him to say something.

Daisy walked into Danny’s office like she had just come from the beach, her hair still a bit wet. ( “So sorry,” She said, after motioning to herself, her swimsuit straps sticking out from under her tank top. “One of my science labs is off shore this semester,” and Steve immediately liked her.) Of them all, she seemed the most… real.  
She was the fourth interview of the day in the Palace for ‘intimidation factor,’ (thank you Jerry.) It was a few days into coming back to work after his month off and Steve was already kicking at himself for not planning better. His first case back he realized that a regular daycare for Jack was just not going to work.

And there was no way taking care of an infant was Nahele or Grace’s afterschool job.

( _“Most people have nine months to prepare, give or take. You’re doing it all a bit backwards and with two,”_ Chin told him. _“Cut yourself some slack.”_

  
That was a comforting thought that Steve clung to.)

Kamekona was actually the one that suggested a nanny, that first day back to work, after Steve face planted onto one of the tables near the shrimp truck, gently rocking Jack’s carrier while they went over the case as the sun went down. Said he had a cousin in the business, looking for a family. Steve politely turned his suggestion down.

He was actually uncomfortable with the idea at first. Nahele was old enough that if he was hungry he could make himself a sandwich, Jack did not have that luxury, but a nanny just felt like he was handing his kids off to some stranger and he really didn’t like it. He could barely stand it when Nahele was in another foster home now that he knew the difference of having the kid under his own roof where he could protect him.

Not to mention it could get expensive.

“You know, being able to offer to the table that I help pay for a nanny, who could offer specialized care for Charlie… that would probably help my custody case,” Danny offered.  
Steve sighed.

Kono and Chin shared another scandalized look that Steve chose to ignore.

(Lou made a comment about _“next comes baby in the baby carriage- oh wait! You’re already there!”_ and Steve chose to ignore that too, even if Kono and Chin did not. He wondered if Grace had gotten them in on her scheming.)

(She had.)

Then they got the call that the perp had been spotted and Steve had to stay behind and twiddle his thumbs.

“It wouldn’t be so bad,” Nahele said, sitting down with him and Jack, a Kamekona’s Shrimp apron tied snuggly around his waist.

“What wouldn’t be?”

“Having help,” Nahele shrugged. “You taught me that.”

Steve smiled.

And that’s how he and Danny started doing nanny interviews together and if you would have told that to the Steve that walked these halls five years ago he’d have laughed in your face.

“So what exactly would you need from me?” She asked. The first of all the potentials to ask that. Steve liked her a bit more.

“Well,” Danny said. “My youngest Charlie has some specific needs.”

“Like what?”

“He’s currently recovering from a bone marrow transplant, and hopefully he’ll be okay, but we don’t know yet.”

“I’m so sorry,” She said sincerely. “So like, a special diet, certain things he can’t do, things to watch for, that kind of thing?”

Danny nodded.

“Okay, that’s doable! Do you have him full time or…”

“That’s a bit up in the air at the moment. Too many variables.”

She nodded. “So you’d need me to be flexible.”

“With Charlie,” Steve said. “And because our jobs are a bit unpredictable too.”

She nodded again. “Okay. So. Average, normal – no unexpected late night cop raids – kind of day… what would that be like?”

Danny laughed.

_~~~_

**An average, normal – no unexpected late night cop raids – kind of day**

**And Daisy’s first day on the job**

~~~

Honestly, if he had some free time today, he was going to sit down and make a chart where the ten minute showers for the teenagers were going to become five minute showers just as a punishment because this fighting over the shower (and now the bathroom counter, and the bathroom clothes hamper, and the cabinet, and the shelf thing he bought for the other wall to help alleviate the new traffic) thing was going to drive Steve up a wall. He was ready. Judgment about Navy-brainwashing from Danny be damned.

A sink washcloth bath was acceptable for Jack.

For Steve? Sure! If he were in a DMZ in a warzone somewhere. Not his kitchen.

Danny had started using his dad’s bathroom for showers, even if the rest of the plumbing was messed up, and Mary really did have a point. He was still referring to the whole room as “his dad’s room” and really there was probably something emotionally there he needed to deal with, but whatever. Mary was going to be there next week and he could pretend to hash it out with her then instead, right before he was gone for a week’s worth of reserves training.

Right now he had two teenagers that had barely made it in to school before the first bell rung and he was late for dropping his youngest off at his daycare which meant his “second-breakfast” schedule was off and Danny was already on mission control, in the backseat with a bottle already feeding him as Steve drove.

“We need a bigger car,” Danny said.

“We need a car like the Camaro for work.”

“I agree,” Danny said, “But what happens when we have Charlie too? Two cars? It’s tight back here for two kids and a carrier and Charlie has a car seat too!”

“We’ll have to make it work, Danny.”

(They borrowed Jerry’s van once, a few weeks later, and Steve was ready to trade in his truck for something a bit more SUV-like, like, immediately, let’s go shopping, but Danny talked him into to putting it off until after the New Year.)

They caught a homicide case just after they walked in the door, Jerry’s dog attacks and missing girls on the side burner again with no current leads. They had a suspect in the backseat just as the older kids would be getting out of school and Grace (who had been ordered to give them text updates on Daisy all afternoon) had updated that she and Nahele had gotten home and Daisy was already there.

“She made them snacks,” Danny read. “Peanut butter and celery.”

Steve made a face of approval. “That’s good, that’s… nutritional.”

“Is this a baby seat?” The suspect asked.

“Shut up,” Steve told him.

“This is top of the line!” The suspect approved.

“Shut up!” They both said together from the front seat.

“Unless you want to talk about what you were doing with stolen top of the line goods from our victim’s house, stop talking.” Danny said.

The next group of text updates came around the time they brought in their second suspect, closing the interrogation room to let him stew for a bit, Danny pulled out his phone and read again.

“They just picked up Jack and Grace went with her.”

“Grace is probably bored out of her mind to volunteer to go.”

“You did give her a mission to watch Daisy.”

Steve nodded.

“…because you knew she’s been bored for these last few weeks after school.”

Steve shrugged. Grace had been antsy with no cheer practice in the afternoons to occupy her; she couldn’t go for a swim or a run with a cast holding her back. She had started timing how long it took her to get up and down the stairs on her crutches and after beating her record three times in a row Steve had made her fold laundry. Then she started balancing the TV remotes on each other until they crashed everywhere and then Steve told her to find something constructive to do or he’d make her read math books and she groaned in boredom every quarter hour on the quarter hour complaining that her phone wasn’t fun during school hours and that was just the first day she really wasn’t hurting. She went back to school the next day, a whole two days before the doctor said was probably good.

(Danny blamed Steve for rubbing off on her.)

“She needs a project.”

A little bit after that, Steve’s phone went off. Daisy had sent him a photo of Jack smiling in his car seat and Steve was pitiful for interrogation after that.

“He’s smiling Danny!” He was so happy, bouncing a bit leaning over and showing the photo off to Lou and Lou only shook his head in a sweet disbelief. He and Chin shared a small grin at Steve’s antics and took charge of interrogation. “Like, not a gas smile, but an actual smile!”

“He’s been smiling for a couple days, Steve.”

“Yeah, but just to you and me! This is a _stranger!_ ” He stared down at his phone for a beat. “He must like her.”

They ended up having to work a bit longer, catching the actual bad guy (it was the husband who did it, after all) and seriously catching a homicide and ten hours later booking the murderer… immunity and means was a wonderful, if not scary, bit of power.

Pulling into the drive well after dark, Daisy’s blue sedan (complete with plumeria decals in the corners of the back windows and a surfboard rack on top) sat waiting for them. She hadn’t left, happy with the “we’ll be another hour yet” text. They came home to baked chicken and rice and Danny was kind of in love with her.

“Nahele’s in the garage,” She greeted them, hair bouncing in a ponytail. “He said he worked on the car? I hope that’s okay, I told him he couldn’t go underneath it unless you guys were here, so I’ll need your rules for that. Grace confirmed it, she’s been a…” She paused, biting her lip, obviously looking for the words, “Great help today.”

Danny and Steve shared a smirk.

“She’s out on the lanai. Probably ignoring her homework. Did you know she’s got an issue with math? I can ask around campus if you were thinking about getting a tutor for her. Otherwise, it was a really easy day.”

Jack babbled happily and kicked his feet from his spot on the blanket in the middle of the room, already spotting his foster-father. It looked like Daisy had set up her own homework on the coffee table and let him roll around under his play mat. Steve leaned down to pick him up with a wide smile.

“Sorry we were later than we said,” Danny told her.

“That’s cool. After our talk that your job can be sporadic,” She shrugged, and Steve wondered if she’d stop doing that after they got to know each other a bit better, “I went out and bought a duffle bag and made myself a weekend kit so, if need be, I can stay overnight at any time. I’ll keep it in my car, so I’ll always have it.”

“Actually,” Steve said. “That’s… great! Good to know.”

“And you’re cool with just… dropping your life like that?” Danny asked, peaking out at Grace through the door windows. She smiled and reached for her crutches.

Daisy paused and looked at Danny with a confused face. “I’m not dropping my life. This is very much my life, just as much as school, or friends, or family. Your kids are great. And you keeping Jack in morning daycare actually makes this feel like an afternoon job, you know? I even had time to take a swim before the older kids got home. This might actually be my favorite job so far!”

Danny laughed. “Well, we’ll see if you still feel that way after we’ve been going for four days straight because of some international incident involving suicide bombers and an assassination attempt.”

Steve gave him a look.

She paused, digesting that. “Okay.”

“Just like that?” Steve asked.

She shrugged again, smiling easily. “I’ve never been through that. But, it’s kinda cool.”

“What is?”

“It’s like I’d be doing my part to stop some international terrorist,” She waved her hands around and wore a conspiratorial smile on her face. At Steve and Danny’s confused faces, she mutely chuckled and continued. “You guys are doing important work. If I can help you stay focused on that, knowing I’m with your kids, then isn’t that me doing my part?”

Steve had to admit, she had a point.

_~~~_

“We’ll call you either way,” Danny told her at the end of the interview as she stood up to leave. Steve stood to open the door for her.

“Thank you,” And she turned to come face to face with Eric.

She stopped, wide eyed. Eric grinned easily, turning on what Danny called _‘sleeze Eric._ ’ Danny didn’t like _‘sleeze Eric.’ ‘Sleeze Eric’_ had shown up sometime after he had left New Jersey. Eric was once a sweet kid, quick to smile and to please. He liked to bake with his grandma and play tea parties with his cousin and now Eric was the fraternity guy without a fraternity. Danny didn’t know where it came from.

(That was a lie, it had Eric’s father written all over it.)

“Hey,” Eric said, grin easy, eyes checking out Daisy.

“No,” Danny said from behind her. “Potential nanny.”

Eric’s eyes lit up at that and he gave her another grin. “Nanny, huh? Hot.”

“Okay,” Steve said awkwardly.

“Stop it, would ya’?” Danny berated him. Daisy only smiled politely. “Sorry about him. He’s not house trained.”

It was her turn to give Danny’s nephew a once over, and a grin. “I can work with that.”

Steve chuckled, Danny made a face, and Eric’s façade fell. Daisy left then, with Eric looking overwhelmed and Steve and Danny chuckling.

“I’m in love Uncle D,” Eric said as Daisy turned to give them all one more sweet smile.

“Maybe if you were like ten percent more a gentleman, you’d have a shot,” Danny told him. “But alas, she’s a potential nanny so no.”

“I like her, Danny,” Steve said. Then he eyed Eric. “Something tells me she’d be good for all our kids.”

_~~~_

_“Who is Eric?”_

_“My nephew. He’s a lab tech for HPD.”_

_“…also from New Jersey?”_

_A nod._

_“There weren’t any police labs on the east coast? He wanted to be here with you?”_

_“I think the casual bikinis were also a big draw for him.”_

_A laugh. “Don’t sell yourself short, Danny. You mean a lot to him.”_

_“He means a lot to me. My younger sister… she was young when she had him. I was still – technically – a minor too. He showed up and changed things, you know?”_

_“Babies do that.”_

_“That they do.”_

_~~~_

**July 1, 2002**

~~~

There was poop literally everywhere. This child went thirty six whole hours of life without a bowel movement and she chose the very moment they were strapping her into the car to let it loose. All the grandparents were busy with bags and balloons and flowers and loading them into the car. Rachel was doing the exit paperwork in the lobby. Matt and Stella had already left and were picking up food for everyone.

It was just him and a pooping thirty six hour old child in a restroom changing station in the hospital lobby. Just the two of them. Tiny little Grace with her tiny little arms and her tiny little nose and her tiny little everything. Danny looked down at her crying face and all the fear and loss he felt when the nurses walked him through a thousand different things.

“It’s okay, baby girl,” He soothed as she screamed at him. “I’ve got you. I’m going to make it better. …I hope.”

He was alone in this bathroom, after all. Well, alone with his newborn daughter and a nine year old nephew who was placed on diaper bag duty after a loud declaration that he was going to be helpful and someone needed to help him do that.

Eric peered up over the changing station with a grimace on his face as Danny was on his third wipe and getting nowhere, “Ew.”

“You did this too, you know,” Danny said, already mourning the ‘home from the hospital’ onesie that Rachel had spent a week picking out. It was pink with flowers and a little skirt sown on it and now it was brown and dripping and he debated throwing it away and just walking out of the hospital with a naked baby. “We got to the lobby and BAM!” He threw the wipe in the trash. “Poop everywhere.”

“I did not!”

“It must be a Williams grandkid special, I swear!” Danny said, being gentle and pulling a fourth wipe just as Grace decided the flow needed to keep going. He jumped, and caught it, fighting the grimace he knew he’d be wearing if it were anyone else’s kid. He was actually catching his daughter’s poop with his bare hand.

He felt like he just reached a new achievement in fatherhood all on his own and the only witness was a nine year old boy who gagged and stepped back at the smell.

“Gross!” Eric said.

_~~~ ****_

**The day Jack was adopted**

****~~~

“I don’t know how I just did that, but I did,” Steve said with wide, weathered eyes as he joined the whole bunch at the cars.

“Did what? What took so long?” Danny asked, waiting outside the Camaro for Steve, Charlie buckled, and Nahele in the front seat. Grace opened the truck door for Steve to buckle Jack up. “Wasn’t he wearing pants?”

“We’re going to throw those away,” Steve said, making a face at Jack. Jack only smiled a wide, toothless grin back at him and kicked his feet, pant-less and happy. “Yeah, you little stink. You think it’s funny.”

“What happened?” Grace asked.

“Your little brother-“ (and at the word, Grace’s face lit up and she looked down at Jack with a bit of pride that Danny was glad to see present) “-decided that he was going to have the biggest poopy diaper I have ever changed!” Steve made a face and waved his hands. “Complete blowout!”

Danny only smiled, biting his lip. “The Williams Grandkid Special,” He said with a bit of a grin.

“What?” Steve asked, done with the final buckle.

Danny shrugged. “Making a huge mess right before you bring them home for the first time. I mean, it’s not a hospital lobby, it’s a courthouse lobby, but I mean. It’s official today! He’s ours! Poopy tradition and all.”

“What?” Grace asked, pausing and leaning around the truck to stare at Danny.

“I’ll explain it better later, okay?” He said. “I do believe our extended family is throwing us an adoption party back at the house.”

“I thought it was supposed to be a surprise,” Steve said, opening the driver’s door to his truck.

“Oops,” Danny said, without any remorse. Kono, Max, Eric, Daisy, and Jerry were not very stealthy in their party planning.

“I really don’t know how I did that in a public restroom though,” Steve said, pushing himself up into a car.

“When it’s your kid, it’s different,” Danny told him. Then he watched as Steve’s smile grew on his face as he started the truck and backed out of the parking spot with their son in his backseat and -

\- and whoa that was a thought. _Their son._

Then he heard Nahele sniff. The boy was sitting still, a little frown on his face, studying the point of his tie between his fingers.

“You okay?” He asked.

Nahele looked up at that, like he wasn’t expecting Danny to notice. “I’m fine.” He looked back down quickly.

“You sure?”

He nodded in the way Danny had come to learn meant ‘no, but I’m not going to talk about it just yet.’ Sometimes he was a little too much like Steve for his own good. Danny let it drop.

“Alright,” Danny said, starting the engine. “I’m here if that changes.”

“I know, Danny.”

_~~~_

_“Jack’s adoption was official only a few months ago, yes?”_

_“Yeah.” A grin._

_“And you both adopted him together?”_

_Simultaneous nods._

_“But no plans to adopt Nahele?”_

_“Well…” A pause. “He’s different.”_

_“How so?”_

_A shrug. “Jack’s mother wasn’t going to get out of prison until Jack was almost sixteen. She granted us permission as long as we kept her updated about his life. Nahele’s father is out now.”_

_A shuffle of papers. “And what do you think of him?”_

_A pause._

_A sigh._

_“Commander?”_

_“I know that the point of the foster system is to provide a safe place for a kid while their biological parents can’t, among other reasons.”_

_A small grin. “That’s not what I asked you, Commander.”_

__~~~ ****__

**Nahele’s first night having dinner with his father**

****~~~

“Hey!” Danny greeted from the couch as the door opened, muting the television. “How’d it go?”

Nahele slid his way through the door past Steve quickly, and made a beeline for the stairs, headphones already on. No comment, no greeting, no glances, just a one way ticket up the stairs and a slammed shut door echoing into the house. Danny watched as he went, both he and Steve at a loss for how to react and wearing identical grimaces.

“That good, huh?” Danny asked him. “Should one of us go after him?”

“Nah, let him have some time,” Steve sighed, kicked the door shut behind him and then sat down heavy in his recliner, barely registering the sports center on the television. Danny’s television. The nicer television. The one that Danny finally moved into the house. Like he was staying, for good this time, despite their fighting. Televisions were important to Danny; sacred, even. And this one was his and it was sitting in Steve’s living room like that’s where it belonged.

The little warmth in his chest at the thought washed over him and he let it, enjoying it. Then he squashed it down, not wanting to dwell on things he wasn’t letting himself have.

Jack’s adoption process had begun, Grace was on a semi-regular schedule of talking to Rachel on the phone, Danny and Stan’s agreement was working with Charlie… and he and Danny… they were making headway on actually being friends again, even if Danny had promised he wasn’t giving up. Everything was… well… going good.

His life had started to feel like it was starting to get back to normal right up until the moment Nahele’s father was being released on parole and the request for a meeting with his son had been slid across their kitchen counter by the social worker. So, it wasn’t really a picture perfect postcard, now was it?

“What happened?”

“Nahele didn’t say a word.”

“What about his father?”

“Oh,” Steve said, running a hand over his face as Danny sat back down. “That man said plenty. Including how he thought Nahele was smart for surviving on the street for as long as he did and that he was screwed over by the system and that he didn’t deserve being behind bars for as long as he was.”

“The man robbed a bank where someone got shot, he’s lucky he didn’t get twenty to life.”

Steve made a face of agreement. “Then he did say that he wanted to do right by Nahele and that he had a job lined up through his parole officer. All that was the right things to say. Then he made some kind of horrible joke about me being Nahele’s parole officer when he found out what I do. He just felt skeevy. Something in my gut. Not quite cop-gut but…”

Danny grunted.

“I don’t know, Danny. I don’t know if I’m okay with Nahele seeing him again or not.”

Danny rocked forward and reached out and squeezed his arm in solidarity. Steve looked at it longingly. He took a moment to stare in wonder that they had found their way back to this comfort, despite everything.

“You don’t really have much of a choice, babe,” Danny’s thumb ran over his wrist assuredly. “If he does everything right, we can’t keep Nahele from him.”

“I know.”

“And even if Nahele didn’t want to, he’d still have to.”

“I know. I just want to do right by him.”

“I know you do,” Danny squeezed his arm again. Then he sighed. “Do you think he’d come out of his room for pineapple pizza?”

Steve gave him a once over. “You okay?”

“What?”

“You. Suggesting pineapple pizza.”

“Not for me,” Danny said, tone defensive. “For Nahele. He’s had a… a day.”

“That he has.”

__~~~_ _

_“So you don’t approve of Mr. Huikala?”_

_A sigh. “No. He’s missed a few meetings with Nahele, claims he picks up shifts but- He’s hurt Nahele in the past and Nahele is… is… is… he’s my kid, okay? He’s my kid. He has been since Duke sat him down in my office, when he was starving and covered in dirt and scared out of his mind, and how I just wanted to… he’s been my kid since I laid eyes on him. But his father is- I-“ Another sigh._

_A hand reaching out for another._

_“So you’d be open to adopting him, if you could?”_

_“But I can’t, so… I don’t- I don’t see why- Why are you asking me this?“_

_“What he’s having a hard time saying is that it feels a bit like an exercise in wanting something you can’t have, so you try not to want it. He’s really good at that.”_

_“Danny, I’m sorry…”_

_“Stop, it was a joke.”_

_A sigh._

_“I think you should talk to Nahele about this, since you feel this way.”_

_“What?”_

_“There’s no way Huikala would sign over his rights to us. No way. The man is convinced Nahele is his way to some kind of… redemption.”_

_“I know that’s how you went about it with Jack but… Look. Just. Professional advice, talk to Nahele about this.”_

_“What good would it be to get his hopes up?”_

_“Sometimes all kids need to know is that they are wanted. My advice is to ask Nahele what he would like to see happen.”_

_“Does- Does he not think he’s wanted?”_

_~~~_


	5. Interlude

~~~

**The waiting room, present day**

~~~

“Danno!” Charlie said happily as he came out of the back room into the waiting room. He pushed himself out of the chair, handing off Stan’s phone back to him, to run and give him a giant hug. A mother in the waiting room faintly smiled at the action, but was busy with her own son.

Danny reached out with a wide smile and picked him up to return the hug tenfold, “Hey Hammerhead! Ooh, what a good hug!”

“Hey 'Mander!” Charlie said, pushing from Danny and reaching for Steve. Steve took him just as happily. 

“Hey guys,” Stan greeted, walking over to them. “Thanks for changing your time for me so I could drop him off.”

“No problem,” Steve said, arms still full of happy four year old. “You going to say goodbye to your dad?”

Charlie nodded, and then he turned to Stan, “When am I going to see you again?”

Stan held up four fingers. “Four sleeps. Not until Monday!”

“Kay,” Then Steve handed him over and Charlie hugged Stan once, twice, three times, four times. “Bye daddy.”

“Bye buddy, I’m going to call you, okay?” Charlie nodded with a smile, Danny grinned. They had a cute kid. “Be ready.”

Doctor Harris popped out of the door and they all turned to see her, “Oh. Hey, everyone!” She greeted. “You ready, Charlie?”

Suddenly shy, Charlie bit his lip and clung to Stan’s neck. “Are you going to use a needle?”

Danny’s heart fell as Stan processed what he said too, moving to kiss his temple. His son had been to the doctor so often that a needle was what he would always expect. 

To her credit, Doctor Harris smiled sweetly, “Oh, no sweetie. We’re just going to talk.”

He ducked his head. 

Danny reached out instantly, roughing up his hair, “Hey, Hammerhead, me and Steve will be out here the whole time, okay?” 

“Yep, they’ll be right here, and I can pull up the waiting room camera on my computer so you can make sure,” Doctor Harris said. “It’ll be you and me and my assistant Mr. King, you met him last week when I met everyone, right?”

Charlie nodded, looking a little better. “Okay.”

“Okay!” 

Then Charlie went with the doctor and Stan said his goodbyes and Danny watched as Steve slumped down into one of the waiting room chairs away from the other family, bent forward, face in his hands. Danny sat next to him, leaned forward and rested his nose against Steve’s shoulder. They sat like that for a moment while Steve gathered himself, took a deep breath, and sat back into the chair. He reached out for Danny’s hand again, holding it between them.

“You didn’t do anything wrong,” Danny told him quietly.

“He thinks he’s not wanted,” Steve responded quickly. “I obviously did something wrong.”

“We don’t know that,” Danny corrected. “We did everything by the book, thinking that reconnecting him with his father was the right thing. It’s been the right thing with Stan this whole time, with Jack’s mother. Letting them in rather than pushing them away-“

“Yeah,” Steve said. “And does Grace or Charlie or even Jack think we love them any less?” He sighed, realizing his voice was starting to get loud. “I don’t blame him.”

“Steve…”

“No! To him, we’ve let Grace ignore Rachel-“

“We haven’t done that.”

“-and you are granted full custody of her-“

“…which literally no one expected.” 

“-and we adopted Jack-“

“That had been the plan for you since December; I just joined in on it.”

“-and now we’re going through all of this for Charlie-“

“Well if it weren’t for Rachel throwing a fit about it then-“

“-what have we done, on a legal level like this, for him?” Steve stared at him with earnest eyes.

Danny sighed, already knowing where this was going. “You want to fight Huikala’s petition for visitation?” 

Steve didn’t hesitate. “Yes.”

“Then we need to talk to Nahele.”

“Which is exactly what the lady told us to do in there, like we weren’t paying attention,” He leaned back forward, covering his face.

Danny bit his lip. “You know how I said that family counselling was ridiculous, and things with Stan were working fine, and that the only thing we’d learn is that Rachel needs one on one therapy?”

“And that ‘we already knew that.’” Steve recited. 

“Well,” Danny started, “And I don’t say this often, so enjoy it,” Steve grinned. “I was wrong.” Steve turned to look at him again. “We’ve got a problem it’s helped us see. I think, as long as we do something about it now, and not ignore it, we can fix it.”

It was Steve’s turn to lean on Danny’s shoulder for a moment, “When’d you get to be so smart?”

“I’ve been smart the whole time, babe. You’ve just been distracted by dashing good looks.”

Steve chuckled, pulled Danny’s hand up to his lips, and kissed his fingers. Danny sighed at the little display of affection. With Steve, if they weren’t inside the comfort of their home, their displays of affection were usually kept to a minimum. Hugs, hand holding, simple middle school stuff, really, along with their normal, everyday touching. At least, what he assumed was normal. He didn’t know anymore, when it came to Steve, what was and wasn’t normal.

They had little things that meant more to them. After someone had fired a gun? Steve would cup Danny’s face afterward; _‘I’m glad you’re safe.’_ After walking the scene of a homicide? Danny would run a hand over Steve’s shoulders and then cup his neck; _‘I’m here, that was horrible, but I am here.’_ A tug of a shirt? _‘I need some time, just you and me.’_ A light smack to the hands? _‘Can you not wait until we get home? You animal.’_ So on, so forth. 

(It wasn’t until after they had their false start, way back in January, that Danny realized how much they touched each other anyway. For weeks he was hyperaware of how he couldn’t touch Steve the way he wanted to so that something even as casual as tapping a shoulder would set off alarms inside his head.)

But they never kissed in public. Not unless they were completely off the clock and surrounded with family. A side effect of Steve’s hyper awareness during the height of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Danny deduced. He didn’t push it.

So he savored it when it happened. Those kisses were special.

“What if we miss something else?” Steve asked.

Danny grinned, and went for a teasing tone. “Does that mean you’re starting to see the importance of talking about your feelings with people you love?”

The teasing a success, Steve rolled his eyes, “Yeah, yeah.”

“‘Yeah, yeah,’ he says,” Danny grinned. “I got you now.”

“You always got me, Danny.”

“Now you’re just bein’ sappy.”

Steve smiled wide.

~~~


	6. Chapter Five

~~~

_“What did you tell Steve and Danny?”_

_“We aren’t even in my office yet, Nahele.”_

_“What did you tell them?”_

_A sigh. A closed door._

_“I asked them what they thought of your biological father. Please, take a seat.”_

_“And what else?”_

_“I encouraged them to speak to you about your situation, like I do with every set of parents that have a teenager that sits in my office.”_

_A sigh._

_“What happened?”_

_A shrug._

_“We talked.”_

_“How’d it go?”_

_“They want me to really think about what I want, and that they’d help me get whatever it is.”_

_“Good.”_

_“I didn’t want to be a problem.”_

_“You’re not a problem, Nahele.” Then. “What is it that you want?”_

_Silence._

_“Nahele…”_

_“Can we talk about something else?”_

_A soft smile._

_“Sure. Whatever you want to talk about.”_

_“What about baseball?”_

_“Okay. What about it?”_

_~~~_

**Early November**

~~~

“Your social worker said you need a club,” Grace said, leaning heavily on her crutches. She motioned to the board full of colorful fliers offering everything from ‘Debate Club’ to ‘Red Cross Volunteering’ to ‘Skateboard Anons’ and Nahele was completely overwhelmed. “Pick one!”

“What if I just joined Cheerleading and helped you fight the mean girls. Didn’t a couple of them get suspended after your accident? I bet they’re looking for people.”

Grace made a face, “If you want to, sure, but Cheer is totally not your thing.” She licked her lips. “Your social worker was right about one thing,” She told him. “You don’t have any friends.”

He shrugged. “I’ve got you.”

“I’m your foster-sister, I don’t count.”

“You sure think highly of yourself.”

Grace rolled her eyes. “I may be having a tough time with the cheerleaders, but I’ve got Lucy and Amanda and Kyle. Who do you got?”

Nahele really couldn’t answer.

“Exactly,” She focused on the board again. “Let’s find you something. Ooh,” She smacked one of the sheets. “‘Mechanic’s Club,’ you like working on cars!”

He made a face. “I’ve tried them earlier in the year. They really aren’t… They aren’t my kind of crowd.”

That wasn’t a complete lie. They were all older, rougher guys, sure, but they were all motor-heads. He saw the sign-up sheet for it, got excited, went, and then recognized a couple of them from a garage he used to sell parts to, harmless things like hub-caps and radio antenna, when he was on the street. He was worried they’d recognize him, so he only went the once.

“Alright…” Grace said. “‘Surfer’s Club.’ I’d join that with you if it weren’t for Purple Wonder, here.” She kicked out her cast covered broken foot in front of her. She still had a few weeks with it on.

“Nah, we get enough of that with Steve and Kono already, we don’t really need set times to go surfing, you know?”

“That’s not the point of joining a club,” Grace said.

He didn’t respond again.

She sighed. Then she moved to another bulletin board down the hall a bit. “What about a sport?”

He shrugged. “I’m supposed to find a club, Grace!”

“Can a sport not count?” She said. “Surfing is a club, but it’s also a sport, why can’t vice versa be true?”

He let out a puff of air and joined her in front of sports board.

“Soccer,” She suggested.

“I don’t know how to play.”

“Volleyball?”

He made a considering face at that. He was Hawaiian; of course he knew how to play volleyball. “I could do that maybe. I bet pick up volleyball and regulation are different games, though. What else?”

“Basketball?”

“Unless it’s HORSE, I don’t know how to play.”

“Golf? We know a good golfer. I bet Lou would love to teach you.”

Nahele laughed. “Wouldn’t Steve love that?”

“Ooh,” Grace said, poking at a sheet. “Baseball. You know how baseball works. You and Danno follow baseball like it’s a religion.”

“Yeah but… watching and playing are two different things.”

She frowned at him and he kicked himself. He knew he was being difficult and she was just trying to help.

People just weren’t his strong suit. Talking to them, befriending them, sharing things about himself with them, it was entirely too daunting.

“What do your parents do?” “Oh, my mom’s dead and my dad’s in prison. But I’ve got a foster dad that’s a cop!” Isn’t exactly the kind of conversation you want to have when you’re trying to make friends. People tend to look at you different after that one.

“Then… I don’t know! Maybe you can be the equipment manager for the baseball team!” She sighed again. “I heard our dads talking to your social worker, you know. I know that your placement with us isn’t a problem, but… if you don’t ‘show improvement’ or whatever that’s supposed to mean… I mean, don’t you like it with us?”

Nahele gave her a face. “You know that I do.”

“Then you gotta pick something,” She started off, the hallow sound of her crutches judging him. “Lunch is over soon, so… I should get a head start up the stairs before the crowds make it impossible.” Then, as she was leaving. “Pick something! You can do this! I believe in you! Yada yada!”

“You’re from Jersey, not New York!” He called after her.

“Whatevah!” She said, exaggerating her accent, turning a bit. “I’m walkin’ here!”

“Only sorta.”

She gave him a face and he waved and then she was off, the steady rhythm of her crutches echoing down the hallway. Foster-sister or not, she was quite possibly the best friend he could have asked for.

Then again, she betrayed him later that night at the dinner table.

“So, Nahele is thinking about joining the baseball team.”

_“Grace!”_

She only shrugged, like _‘oh, was that supposed to be a secret?’_ and he glared at her in return. She answered by taking another bite of her noodles, false innocence plastered on her face.

“Really?” Danny perked up. Steve perked up too, mouth full of noodles, but interested.

Nahele rolled his eyes. “I don’t know.”

“What’s not to know?” Steve asked, mouth still full.

“I’d have to try out,” Nahele said. “I’ve never played… before. I mean, I played slow pitch a long time ago, but…”

Danny shrugged. “You know how the game works. That’s half the battle.”

“Danno used to play baseball,” Grace added to the conversation. “Competitive in high school and then he coached high school all through college.”

“It was a middle school assistant coaching position-“

“And he and Steve coached my little league team.”

“Yeah, we did,” Danny had his focus on Nahele. “I can help you practice, if you want. It’d be really fun to do that. Give you pointers; help you with your throw. Figure out which position you’d be good at, the works.”

Nahele eyed Steve, “You okay with that?”

Steve blinked at him, and then confusion washed over his face, “Why wouldn’t I be? That sounds like a great idea!”

He shrugged, dropping his chopsticks. “It’s not football.”

Steve’s face was blank for exactly four seconds. Nahele counted the ticks on the clock on the living room wall. Danny bit his lip and made this exaggerated nod, throwing his head back, like he understood what Nahele was trying to say immediately. Steve, however, took four, long, seconds to react.

Then it was like his whole body reset and he took a deep breath, his eyes focused squarely on Nahele, “You don’t have to play football… for me.” Steve sat his own chopsticks down and leaned forward towards him. “I want you to do the things that you want to do. You playing football would only make me happy if playing football made you happy. If you playing baseball makes you happy, it makes me happy.”

Nahele ducked his head and put his hands down in his lap.

“You don’t have to worry about impressing me, you know,” Steve continued. “You do that every day whether you realize that or not.”

Nahele couldn’t look up from his noodles for a little bit, picking up his chopsticks to spin them around in his bowl, hoping the moment would pass, that Jack would start crying, or Grace would change the subject, or a thousand other things to take the focus away from him, right now, please. Like, a tsunami would be nice.

Instead he got this from Steve, “Do you have a glove? We need to get you a glove. And a good bat.” He turned to Danny, “Do they have to have a certain type for high school ball?”

“I might not even make the team, so what’s the point?” Nahele interjected a bit roughly before Danny could answer. Zero to nine thousand, remember? Steve didn’t seem to know how to stick his toe in to check the water first, he just jumped right in.

“If it were tennis, I’d be talking about racquets. If it were windsurfing, I’d be talking about sails,” Steve told him. “It doesn’t matter what it is, if you want to do it, I want to help!”

_~~~_

_“Do you get anxious like that, often?”_

_A shrug._

_“Do you count seconds like that too?”_

_Another shrug._

_“It sounds like Steve is very supportive.”_

_A grin. “You should have seen all the baseball stuff I got for Christmas.”_

~~~

**Christmas morning**

~~~

Danny Williams did Christmas big. It, apparently, was kind of his thing. Grace had stories about him dressing up as Santa Claus (and, as he would learn in a few days, that he had planned to do it again) and surprising all the Williams grandkids with presents and hot chocolate. They had decorated the house to the nines just after Deb’s funeral. Steve was in a funk with Mary already back on the mainland, walking around with a bit of a frown etched into his face, and so Danny decided that it would be a good distraction.

_(“This house hasn’t been decorated since I was fourteen.”_

_“Then it is long, long, long overdue, my friend.” )_

Nahele himself had never had anything like it. His mom would put up a tree and hang some stockings, sure, but the garland on every door frame and the lights hung all over and a little elf that moved around the house (and visited Stan and Rachel’s house too) that would delight Charlie to no end and wreaths on every door and lights hanging outside on the palm trees in the backyard… it was more than Nahele had ever had.

He ate it up.

There was a small part of him that was worried that he’d never have something like this again.

They presented all four kids with “a pre-present” a few weeks before, presenting them all with matching gift bags (even Jack had one, and he was more interested in the fancy tissue paper than anything) and Nahele pulled out a stocking with his name on it. They all had.

It wasn’t much, just a small token that even most of his foster families had done in the past. Hung up stockings for him, that is. He even had one home sit him and his foster siblings down and they painted their own names on them (even if they ended up in the trash the day after Christmas.)

This stocking, though. This stocking had his name embroidered with golden thread like he was permanent.

“These will last us a few years,” Danny had said with a firm conviction that Nahele found himself jealous of.

The last time he had a stocking like this, his mom was still alive.

He briefly wondered if her belongings were stored somewhere, waiting for him.

He doubted it.

_~~~_

_“Everything was trashed or donated or sold to pay off the rest of her medical bills.”_

_“How’d you find that out?”_

_“They noticed that the stocking kind of… hit me. They asked why, I said it made me think of mom. They looked into it for me.”_

_“That’s very sweet of them.”_

_A shrug._

~~~

They were both in his room, with serious faces and gentle tones. That probably wasn’t good. Fear took him straight to ‘they are kicking you out’ immediately. He tried to dismiss that thought, claiming Steve wouldn’t do that to him, not the week before Christmas, at least. Steve wasn’t that cruel. He couldn’t be. That’s not how Steve was.

Then again, they didn’t have complete control over where he went. He didn’t either, for that matter. He knew that intimately well. He had been so desperate for any semblance of control over his life that he lived on the streets for months.

The last time they did this, both of them wearing identical faces and wanting to talk to him, it was about his father. He was going to be getting out of prison in a few months. Maybe this had something to do with that?

He was still anxious, so the soothing thoughts didn’t quite work.

“We found out some stuff about what happened to your mom’s things,” Steve started.

Nahele relaxed so quickly that he actually felt dizzy. “Yeah?”

Steve nodded, moving to sit next to him on his bed. His voice was gentle, “There’s nothing left.”

He knew it was coming, but it was still a bit of a blow. “I figured.”

“We found something else out, though,” Danny said, pulling out some kind of magazine from behind his back, and holding it in front of him. “Your mom doesn’t have a headstone.”

“I know,” He said. “They cost money. At least she’s not in a box on a shelf somewhere. She’s buried, like she wanted.”

Steve and Danny shared a look that Nahele couldn’t read. Then Danny handed him the magazine.

“Pick one,” Steve said, motioning to the magazine. “We’ll make it happen. She deserves that. So do you.”

“What?” Nahele said, reaching for the magazine. It turned out to be a brochure of headstone templates and his eyes started to water. He wiped at them quickly. “I can’t ask you guys to do this.”

Steve shrugged, throwing an arm around his shoulders in a snug hug. “You don’t have to. We want to.”

They left him alone after that, sensing that he needed some time, with the reminder they’d be downstairs if he needed them.

Three days later they, along with Grace, Kamekona, and the rest of the Five-0 family, stood at his mother’s grave, and watched as her headstone – her actual headstone, etched with her name and dates and everything – was placed. It was almost like it was a proper funeral and Nahele had no idea how he was ever going to thank them for this. This was something he thought he wouldn’t get to do for his mother until he was older, settled, and in a position to be able to; a far off future he used to doubt he’d ever have in the first place.

_~~~_

_“I had no idea they did that for you.”_

_A sniff._

_“Yeah. They’re good guys.”_

_Another sniff._

_“Can we change the subject again?”_

_A smile. “You were talking about Christmas morning.”_

~~~

**Back to Christmas morning**

~~~

It was apparently a McGarrett family tradition; to separate gifts first and then take turns opening.

“Makes it last longer,” Steve said, coffee mug close to his mouth. Then he made a face. “And clean up easier.”

So he and Grace dug around the tree for a bit, creating six separated piles (Steve and Danny glared at each other with each present they were presented with, and every time they did, Grace laughed a gleefully evil little laugh) and they all opened.

Of course, four year old, excited, bouncy, hopped up on masaladas full of sugar Charlie was not patient enough to wait to take turns, so it all turned chaotic very quickly.

Steve really didn’t seem to mind, happy to sit back with Danny and watch, with a grin on his face. Charlie opened a plush toy shark and ran it around the living room making chomping noises. Jack’s little pile sat unopened while he reached for paper discarded around him with glee. Grace opened some kind of portable speaker and was already trying to hook her phone up to it. Nahele opened a shiny, new baseball bat and batting gloves and gave Steve a frustrated look. He had already gotten him a mitt, after he decided to try out for catcher. Steve only smiled back at him and said, “high school weight, I checked.”

They were all told they had to wait on one present, though. A tall and wide one, all of them identical, so he figured whatever it was, they were all getting the same thing.

Nahele’s stomach dropped when he opened it though. It was suitcase.

_~~~_

_“Why is that a bad thing?”_

_“…I didn’t have one before.”_

_“So?”_

_A shrug. “They had been so helpful. Steve kept saying these things, before he fostered me, that he’d help me get on my feet, and my first thought…”_

_~~~_

They were setting him up to leave. All the new clothes, the new shoes, for Christmas, the baseball things that his father would never be able to afford, and now the suitcase... His father was going to be out of prison soon. They were getting him things he’d need for the next few years while his father got on his feet. He was going to leave and this wasn’t permanent and he shouldn’t have gotten comfortable or gotten his hopes up because he was better off when he didn’t let anyone in and-

“We’re going on a trip!” Danny said. “All of us!”

“What?” Nahele asked quickly, still reeling.

Steve nodded and patted Jack’s back. He was already nodding off on Steve’s shoulder, ready for a nap. “We’ve been invited to Williams Family Christmas in New Jersey!”

“Really? All of us?” Grace asked, face lit up. “I don’t have to go to England?”

Danny rolled his eyes. “Not this year. I worked it out with mom. And, the two of you get another present.”

He and Grace looked at each other, and then back to Danny, waiting.

“New Year’s Eve.”

Grace reacted immediately, mouth open wide, jumping up and down. “Really?”

“You’re thirteen,” He shrugged. “I always said we’d go when you were a teenager.”

She squealed, rushing forward to hug her father, then she turned and hugged Steve, then she turned to hug Nahele, and Nahele was just a little bit overwhelmed.

“What are-what are… W-where are we- What are we doing?” Nahele asked, trying to hug Grace back.

“Times Square!” Grace told him excitedly. “With the confetti and the concerts and all the people! Like on the TV every year!”

“Oh,” Well that was something he never thought he’d get to see in person ever. “That’s… that’s cool.” Finally, a bit of excitement flooded through him.

“We’re going with you guys,” Steve said. “That’s the deal breaker.”

“I like this deal,” Grace said. “When are we leaving?”

Steve adjusted Jack and looked at his watch, “Oh…” He stretched out the action. “In about seven hours.”

_~~~_

_“What an exciting present!”_

_“Right? A bit much.”_

_“But you talked last time that the trip was what made you start feeling like Danny was a foster dad too?”_

_A nod._

_“Did the trip make you feel more permanent?”_

_A shrug._

_“How’d it go? Was it a good trip?”_

_“Stella, Danny’s sister, bought us tickets to a Broadway play, so we got to go into the city to sight see before New Year’s Eve. That was cool. We got to see the giant tree? Do you know…?”_

_“Rockefeller Center.”_

_“Yeah. And I got to build a snowman. I’ve never done that. Grandma Williams got us all winter coats, met us at the airport with them with big bows on them. I’d never worn a coat like that. There were so many people. Danny’s probably got about six dozen cousins who all wanted to see him and…” A shrug. “It was nice.”_

_A pause._

_“I finally understand the importance of hot chocolate in the winter.”_

_A laugh._

~~~

“Are you okay?” Grace asked, leaning over the edge of the bunk bed.

Apparently the Williams bought them special for their visit, _(“And for future visits,”_ Eddie had said, arms full of grandchildren. Nahele doubted he’d have another visit.) Danny and Steve stuffed into Danny’s old room in the attic with a crib that his sister brought over, and Charlie curled up on a stowaway bed across the room. The three of them were in what had to be Matty’s old room.

Matty was a sore subject with the whole family, doubly so with Danny, like he was a bruise several members of the family couldn’t help but poke. Grandma Williams would send them dirty looks every time she overheard it, though.

Nahele sniffed and looked back up at her. “Yeah, why?”

“I don’t know,” She said, settling against the railing. “You’ve been really quiet. Like, all day.”

“You’ve got a lot of family.”

She smiled slowly. “It’s your family too.”

 _“Foster-family,”_ He reinforced. “Temporary.”

“Oh please,” She rolled her eyes. “You’re stuck with us, even if you have to go back to your bio-dad.”

“How could Danny just up and leave all of this?” He whispered, desperately wanting to change the subject.

“What do you mean?”

“All this family. I didn’t know you could have this much family. Blood related family, at least. How many brothers does your Grandpa have, anyway?”

“Like, five,” Grace said. “And two sisters.”

“Damn,” He whispered again. “That’s a lot to leave behind.”

There was a short lull in their conversation. If it weren’t for Grace’s hair flopped over the edge, he would have assumed she had rolled over and gone to sleep.

“He did it for me,” Grace admitted, voice low, face ducked into the frame. “Mum wanted to go, and he wanted to stay, and yet he still moved all that way anyway.”

What an extraordinary gift she had been given. To have a father that cared __that much._ _ Nahele could only be so lucky. To have someone like that, to have all this family somewhere in the world, to have all this love and support and-

“I wonder sometimes if he resents me for that.”

The Danny Nahele knew? “No way. Not Danno.”

“’Danno?’”

“Uh…” Nahele stuttered. “Danny. I mean Danny.”

“You can call him Danno.”

“Only his kids call him Danno.”

“Exactly.”

A small warmth grew inside him. A tiny flicker of hope for something he still thought he’d never have. But maybe… maybe… Maybe Grace was right. No matter what happened with his father, no matter where the state sent him, or whatever else happened that was out of his hands, he’d have Steve and Danny.

An extended family, somewhere, out in the world, waiting for him to come home for Christmas.

“And Uncle Steve,” Grace added.

He chuckled. “How much longer do you think we have to wait for them to realize what they got with each other?”

“Maybe just as long as it’ll take for you to realize what you’ve got with them.”

He sighed, sniffed again, and rolled over. Maybe…

“Goodnight, Nahele,” She said, voice low. “New Year’s Eve is tomorrow!”

“Goodnight, Grace.”

_~~~_

_“You and Grace really are close, aren’t you?”_

_A smile. A shrug._

_“Yeah. She’s my best friend.”_

_“What about a girlfriend?”_

_“Not with Grace. No. Ew. No. Best friend. Foster-sister. No.”_

_“I wasn’t talking about Grace.”_

_A pause._

_“Is there anyone special? Even if it’s just a crush?”_

_A shrug._

_“There’s a girl. She’s a year younger than me. She’s another Five-0 kid.”_

_“Five-0 kid?”_

_“Yeah. You know. A kid of someone on Five-0. We’re all kind of close because our parents all hang out so much.”_

_“Oh? How many of you are there?”_

_“Well. Six. The four of us, and then Lou’s kids. Sam and Logan. Samantha.”_

_~~~_

**Awhile back**

~~~

“We cannot be out here!” Nahele whispered urgently. “We get caught, you all get grounded. But I could get kicked out of the house!”

“You’re not going to get kicked out. We’re like, a hundred yards away from home,” Grace argued.

“Besides!” Samantha said. “There’s a band and music and dancing on this beach! What is the upside of living in Hawaii if you don’t go to a beach party every now and then?”

“Right?” Grace asked, holding hands with Sam, both them wearing matching, wide smiles. “Live a little.”

Sam held out her other hand towards him. “Come on,” She said with a sweet smile. “I’ll save you a dance.”

The sunset light hit her curls making them almost glow, and Nahele fought the urge to gasp, she was so beautiful. He was so screwed. Her father was very intimidating. He spent one evening eyeing Nahele and Sam from Steve’s lanai, smoking one of his cigars in a way he’d only seen in mobster movies.

“Fine,” He said, taking her hand, and willing the butterflies in his stomach to stop dancing already. “But if there’s any drinks, none of us are drinking, okay?”

“Deal!” They said at the same time. Then they let out a loud squeal as they rounded the rocks to the public park and Nahele was dragged to an actually wonderful night.

It was not the first time he kissed a girl, but he bet, sitting on the rocks, listening to the soft music in the background, letting the waves hit their feet, counting what stars they could see… it would probably be his most memorable first kiss of his adolescence.

_~~~_

_“Wow. She sounds like she’s something special.”_

_“She is.” A smile. “She comes to some of my baseball games and she is so brave.”_

_“What do you mean?”_

_“Like going to that concert. It was completely harmless. Totally lame. I mean, people brought their kids. Little kids. Grace ended up going home, but Sam wanted to stay. Talked me into staying. She’s always doing that.”_

_“Getting you to do things?”_

_A nod._

_“Sailing and scuba diving and a zip line with her and her dad. Things I’ve never done, even though I’ve lived here all my life. Steve gets me doing things too. Have you ever been up to the petroglyphs up in the Valley?”_

_“Can’t say that I have.”_

_“You should probably be in really good shape to get up there. That was a good day.”_

_“Tell me about it.”_

_~~~_

_**A few months ago, just after Jack...** _

_~~~_

“Okay,” Grace panted. “I need a break.”

“Oh, come on. You can do this!” Steve encouraged, not even breaking a sweat yet. “It’s like, forty more yards!”

“I mean, I know that I’m supposed to do some exercise on my leg, but this hike is ridiculous,” Danny said, panting just as hard, but still going. “I don’t know why I agreed to this.”

“I thought it was because the Commander made the lunches and packed the truck.”

“Oh yeah,” Danny threw his hands up in the air. “How could I forget?”

He smiled widely at Steve and Steve grinned back at him. If they were ridiculous before they worked out their crap, they were outlandish now. The sweet looks and open flirting sometimes made Nahele roll his eyes.

“And that other thing,” Steve toyed softly with a grin Nahele only ever saw on the dirty movies he swore he didn’t watch.

He turned to share a look with Grace, only to find her smartly turned around, phone raised, taking a photo of the valley behind them. He took a few steps toward her, and she turned, pulling him into a smiley selfie.

Danny glared, “Children are present, Steven.”

“Mmm, I know,” He grabbed Danny’s backpack strap and leaned in for a quick kiss that Danny couldn’t help but smile into.

“Mmm. You’re ridiculous,” Danny told him.

“You both are,” Grace mumbled, looking down at her phone.

Steve started moving on, but backwards and pointing towards Grace, “Aren’t you the one that wanted us together so badly you stopped talking to us for like… a week in January?”

Grace sped up and walked past him, “That’s because you guys were being stupid.”

“Hey,” Danny scolded, without much heat behind his tone. Nahele knew that Danny agreed with his daughter.

They made it to the top, Grace took tons of pictures, (one of which lived on Steve’s lock screen on his phone for well over a month, all four of them squished into the frame) and sat down for sandwiches and water and pineapple and enjoyed the fresh air, the warm sun, and the cool breeze you only ever really got when you were up the mountain as high as they were. They all laughed and they all teased; Nahele was actually finally comfortable with throwing a few jabs himself.

And then-

“You know my father wanted to take me up here when I was a kid, but we only got about halfway up,” Steve shared with him, eyes far off. Danny reached out, eyes soft, and grabbed his hand. “That was a good day.”

“Do you miss him?” Grace asked.

“Oh,” Steve started, rattled back into the moment, “More than I actually thought I would.”

“Do you have a lot of bad memories of him?” Nahele couldn’t help but ask, mind on his own biological father.

“Not really,” Steve said. “He wasn’t… talkative. Not like Danno here,” He nudged into him with his shoulder. Danny nudged back with a grin. “It’s just that one big thing he did, sending me away. I still have days when I’m so angry at him. But I miss him.”

They were all quiet for a moment.

“That’s the thing with the bad memories of someone. They are heavy, but they tend to sink to the bottom, so only the good stuff is on top.”

“Hey, look at you,” Danny praised, pride evident in his voice and all over his face, “Sharing emotional stuff like a healthy person.”

Steve shrugged and eyed Nahele, and then at Grace, before looking down at his hand joined with Danny’s. He squeezed it, and ran his thumb along Danny’s. “I don’t want to not talk he did. Not with you guys.”

Nahele knew why they were out there. Jack’s adoption had just gone through, and while Charlie was ecstatic to have a little brother, Nahele knew Steve and Danny were worried he and Grace were feeling left out. They had made their favorite meals over the last few weeks, and they had both gotten new cell phones, and talked about this hike for weeks.

Grace thought it was silly that the two of them thought that they were being left out, but the truth of the matter was…

Well.

Nahele was.

He just didn’t know how to correct her about it without hurting her feelings. She’d get sad and pouty and all the attention he’d been getting would double. What he wanted-

That was a road he wouldn’t let himself go down. Want and hopes that wouldn’t come true because his biological father was well on his way to be declared ‘fit’ for fatherhood.

_~~~_

_“You talk about him like you don’t think he is.”_

_“He’s not.”_

_“Why do you think that?”_

_…_

_“Nahele.”_

_A sigh. “One time, I was like. Five. He left me in the car, windows rolled up; it was like ninety eight degrees. Some guy broke the window to get me out. Nothing happened and he didn’t get in trouble. And ever since he’s been out…”_

_Another sigh._

_“It’s like he goes through the motions when we meet. He doesn’t call on other days, or text, or visit me at work, like Steve said was okay. Nothing.”_

~~~

**Back in January**

~~~

He had just gotten out of the ocean, drying off with a towel, and halfway wanting to stay out on the beach all night. Hatred ran through him, angry that he let himself feel any kind of hope.

His very first baseball game was earlier that day. Nothing important, not really, just some intermural scrimmage between varsity and junior varsity. He had invited his father.

Steve and Danny showed up with all three kids and several members of Five-0 and cheered loud when he hit a double and took him out for burgers afterward, like he hoped his father would do. But he got a text a few hours later, claiming he was sorry, that he had picked up another shift and he would be working all night.

They saw him downtown, out of the balcony of the restaurant going into some shop across the street. It hit him that his father had lied to him. Steve and Danny both wore firm faces and Grace was severely tempted to run out and give him a piece of her mind. Danny had stopped her, but it was close.

But now he was on the beach watching the sun go down and hoping that the swim would help clear his mind. It didn’t.

Danny sat beside him first, and Steve plopped down on the other side of him only seconds later. The two of them had been fighting, been off-kilter with each other, but they still both wanted him to know they were there for him. It was such a nice feeling that Nahele focused on that night on the beach whenever his father let him down. They both threw and arm around him and the three of them watched the sunset in silence. They sat until the last of the warmth from the sun faded away and the only warmth left was on either side of Nahele, strong and constant.

~~~


	7. Chapter Six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The dog attack is in this chapter.

~~~

The North Shore was gorgeous in February. Renee, Lou’s wife, couldn’t stop singing its praises. The whole group was sitting around a couple of tables mushed together in a rather crowded park. It seemed like everyone on Oahu was out and enjoying the nice weather after several tropical storms had kept the sky dark for a week. They were up a ways, on a lookout over Pipeline, surfers filling the water for a mile in each direction. The Whitakers were up and walking around the path, trying to get Rita’s required daily walking in for the day.

There was a small playground set a few yards away from them and Logan and Charlie were happily climbing all over the thing with about two dozen other kids, Logan (and about a dozen adults) keeping a good eye out for the younger boy.

Several of the group had spent the whole morning enjoying the waves, teenagers included. They were all sitting, worn out, against the short stone wall that ran along the cliff, enjoying sodas and shade and taking turns replenishing sunscreen. Sam and Grace had been playing with their phones before their dads threw sunscreen in their direction.

“There are many things I miss about Chicago,” Renee told the group, adjusting her sunglasses, “But the winter weather is not one of them!”

Chin and Kono both grinned, but Steve eyed Danny and Danny was already bracing for the ridiculous jibe he was going to throw his way.

“Hear that, Danno?” He teased. “Listen to your fellow mainlanders.”

“Yeah, whatever, I still miss snow storms.”

“You know the Big Island gets snow every now and then,” Chin offered.

“I’m talking blizzard,” Danny’s hands waved in front of him. “Full on stuck inside your house for days kind of blizzard. The kind where you sit around doing nothing and you have an excuse not to leave your house because there’s four feet of snow blocking the driveway.”

“Ugh,” Renee groaned. “I do not miss that.”

“Here here,” Lou said, raising his beer.

“Just wait for a hurricane,” Jerry warned. “I real one that actually hits Hawaii.”

“Oh, yeah,” Chin agreed. “You’ll have your excuse not to leave your house then.”

“Good,” Danny said. He took another sip of his beer as his friends laughed.

“So,” Kono said. “Why exactly are the two of you treating us to beers and a grill full of steaks and a camping trip disguised as ‘team building’ on the reason why we needed the weekend off when you talked to the governor?”

“You can’t just enjoy the day?” Steve asked.

“No,” She told him, taking a sip of her beer and eyeing Steve suspiciously. “You two are up to something.”

“Yeah brah,” Chin said, also eyeing Steve. “You aren’t exactly the kind to buy everyone beers.”

Steve rolled his eyes and smiled, “Maybe we just wanted to do something nice for you all.”

“Yeah,” Danny agreed. “We realize that we haven’t been the easiest pair to work with these last few months.”

“No,” Lou dragged on sarcastically. “We couldn’t tell.”

Kono laughed.

“Oh totally not,” Jerry added, same tone of sarcasm.

“You’ve all stepped up when I needed it with the boys, I don’t how I can thank you for that. Plus. We’ve also had a run of… hard cases lately,” Steve tried to change the subject a bit. Danny smiled warmly at him. “I figured we all needed a bit of a break.”

“Too bad Max couldn’t make it,” Jerry frowned. “I was hoping he would.”

“He’s got ‘a previous engagement with Sabrina,’” Chin quoted.

“Yeah, they are babysitting Jack while we’re camping up here tonight,” Steve told him.

“Ooh, I bet it’s a life test,” Kono cooed. She turned to Adam, “Remember when I did that to you with my cousin’s baby?”

“Oh yeah,” Adam said with a loving grin. (The man hadn’t been out of the house, not really, not like this, in months. He was lying low, going a bit stir-crazy without being able to work and the fresh air and company was doing him some good.)

“Ooh, is there baby talk already?” Chin joked, leaning into his cousin. The table echoed the oohs.

Kono only rolled her eyes, “Shut up, cuz.”

Everyone laughed. She leaned into Adam’s side anyway. He kissed the side of her head and Danny felt a pang of jealousy. He glanced up at Steve and it turned into a stare until Steve looked back at him. The smile that was stretched across his face only a moment ago fell as he noticed Danny staring. Danny licked his lips and focused down on his beer bottle label, picking at one corner.

“When do you think Max will get around to poppin’ that big ole’ question?” Lou asked. He probably felt the awkwardness.

“Who says it’ll be Max?” Chin retorted. The group broke out into laughter again.

“Well,” Steve said, smacking the table, “Let’s get back to the campsite, fire up the grill!”

“That sounds like a plan,” Lou agreed.

They all started packing up their things, trashing the empty drinks, and loading their cars. Danny was lifting a cooler up into the bed of Steve’s truck when Kono made her way over to him.

“So,” She said, sliding a folding chair in beside the cooler, “Speaking of wondering when two people are going to get together…”

Danny froze, and then he rolled his eyes. “You’re as bad as Grace.”

“She rants to me almost daily, ya’ know.”

“I am aware,” He said, pulling tight on the rope to keep the cooler secure.

“She said you kissed, bro. Like, in front of them.”

Danny made a face somewhere between a denial and a grimace, sputtering for words, basically confirming the gossip.

Kono looked excited. “So it is true! So what’s the problem? Is his dick too big? You know with enough time and lube…” She grinned.

Danny rolled his eyes, chuckling, and glanced back towards Steve gathering up beer bottles from their tables. He stared longingly and bit his lip; he knew he was starring longingly. It was a little ache, and it was an ache that Danny resolved himself to feel for a very long time.

Kono noticed the look of longing, (and Danny really needed to find a thesaurus if he was going to be in longing forever) and rested against the back of the truck. “Oh, so it’s his fault.”

“Kono, just drop it, please?”

“Is your dick too big? Then we really do need to have a discussion about lube.”

“Kono,” He whined.

She giggled, then turned serious, “Do I need to defend your honor?”

“Kono,” He groaned.

“Has he deflowered my favorite fair maiden without chivalry and declarations of intent?”

“I’m not a maiden,” He growled.

She reached out and played with a bit of his hair that was flopping around in the wind. “But you’ve got such pretty golden locks.”

He swatted at her hand with a frown, “Stop it.”

“So?” She pushed anyway.

“So what?”

“What really happened? You two bicker all the time, but the last few months you guys have been really fighting about something. Something for real this time. First time I’ve ever seen that between the two of you. And now you guys seem… better, but it’s like you’re walking on glass around each other. What happened?”

“Are you really so interested in this?”

“Yes! You guys are my family!”

Danny shrugged. “Something happened. Something…” He turned and leaned against the tailgate. “We had a moment, well… several… moments over the course of one night… and I thought, I thought we were…”

“Finally falling in together?” Kono suggested, excitement in her voice.

“Yeah,” Danny confessed. He crossed his arms, refusing to look up at his friend. “But Steve put a stop to it. I haven’t given up, but he’s adamant about it.”

“Hmm,” She said, leaning on the tailgate, mirroring his arms. “Boys are dumb.”

“Tell me about it.”

“But you’re not giving up?”

Danny watched as Steve lifted Charlie up on his shoulders and his son squealed.

He sighed in happiness, that longing ache growing bigger. “How could I?”

~~~ ****

**That evening**

****~~~

“Just go to sleep Danny.” Steve wasn’t in his sleeping bag, but he had a sheet pulled up around him, turned away from him. Danny hadn’t said a word. “I can feel you staring at me.”

There was a question on Danny’s mind though. It had been for a while now. It bit at him at unpredictable times and Danny tried to ignore it every time.

“Do you want me to leave?”

Steve turned his head first, and then laid flat, looking at Danny. “Leave the tent?”

“That’s not what I mean,” He told him.

He was quiet after that, staring back at Danny. The moonlight through the mesh of the roof ( _“We don’t need the rain tarp, Danny! It’s not supposed to rain!” “What do you mean ‘it’s not supposed to rain?’ It’s Hawaii! It rains all the time!” “Then we’ll get wet, what is the big deal?” “‘What’s the big deal?’ he asks? The big deal is if it rains, we’ll get wet, and if we get wet, we’ll get pneumonia!” “That’s not going to happen, Danny.”_ and it felt like a goddamn miracle because Steve was actually picking a pointless fight with him) made a checkered pattern on Steve’s face and neck and Danny let himself stare. How Steve bit his lip, the discomfort his eyebrows betrayed, his bright eyes captivating – even in the muted light. He had always noticed his eyes.

Then Steve closed them and whispered, “No.”

“Then I’m not going anywhere,” Danny said.

He nudged Steve’s hip with the back of his hand, the first more than casual touch Danny allowed himself in over a month. Steve lowered his gaze, but also lowered his arm, hesitantly taking Danny’s hand in his. Danny grasped it like a lifeline. He had craved anything from his partner these last few weeks. This was like the first breath after being underwater just a bit too long and Danny was enjoying the air.

“You know I would have said ‘tough shit’ even if you said yes, right?”

Steve let out a huff of a chuckle and Danny took it as a victory.

“I’m not going anywhere,” Danny reinforced.

Then Steve rolled over, pulling his hand out of Danny’s, but Danny held on tighter. After a moment, Steve readjusted, leaving his hand in Danny’s, but still turned away from him.

“This isn’t a surrender,” Steve muttered. “Okay?”

“Alright.”

~~~

_“Kono was right, ‘boys are dumb.’ I was so dumb.”_

_“Stop beating yourself up.”_

_“Danny…”_

_“Just tell the next bit that you wanted to tell before we got sidetracked again.”_

_“Do you remember that dog attack case we talked about a few sessions back?”_

_“Yes, Commander.”_

_“Well, the next morning…”_

~~~

Steve woke up to screaming. He shot up, adrenaline already pumping, reaching for his shoes. Danny was quick behind him, but he tore the tent door open, probably ruining the zipper, and the first thing they did was check on the kid’s tent. It was easily the biggest one in their campsite, but with five kids all sharing the space, all the adults thought it was worth it.

Growling could be heard from the campsite over and the first thought Steve had was ‘Jerry is always right.’ They were on the North Shore, rabid dogs, Jerry is always right.  
Nahele opened the kid’s tent just as Steve and Danny had gotten there. Lou and Chin were both pulling themselves out of their tent.

“What’s going on?” He asked.

“I don’t know yet,” Steve answered. “Do you have your bat in the tent?”

He nodded, “Yeah.”

“Get it, and keep everyone inside, okay?”

“Yeah, okay.”

Renee came up behind him, “I’ll stay with the kids.”

“Thanks,” Danny told her. Then he looked up at Steve as they took off towards the other campsite. “I hope someone ignored your ‘no guns’ mandate for this ‘retreat.’”

Turns out Kono did and as a group they automatically let her take the lead. Chin and Steve had both picked up large sticks behind her. Danny chose to go with a loose rock, and Lou took up the rear with his phone out already on the line with HPD. They made it only to find a rabid dog staggering and snarling around a campsite, a bunch of kids spread out all over. Some were in tents, one had climbed up the rocks that surrounded their campsite, pulling his friend up too, two girls were running towards the cars, hopefully towards safety.

Kono whistled for the dog, gun raised, and he started padding towards her, growling. The kid that was climbing the rocks missed a step and fell hitting the dirt. Distracted, the dog turned from Kono after the boy. He screamed and scrambled up the wall again just as-

“Kyla!” A girl shrieked. “No! Leave her alone!”

She was with the pair of girls that had gone towards the car, and everyone turned to her, taking their eyes off the dogs.

That’s when everything happened at once. Steve saw three men, all Asian and all in regular civilian clothing, looking completely normal, grab Kyla, and Kyla fought back, before they threw a bag over her head and threw her in the back of a jeep. Kyla’s friend was trying to fight, but one of them smacked her across the head with what looked like the butt of a shotgun, and she went limp. The men went to grab her too.

“Hey!” Steve ran after them, and the man grabbing Kyla’s friend saw Steve, and dropped her, wide eyed.

“Go go go,” He screamed, jumping in the back of the jeep himself. There were no plates, and Kono fired one shot towards them, and it hit one of them. He let out a nasty yell, but it wasn’t enough for the men to stop.

Kyla was gone.

Of course, the gunshot was just enough for the dog to turn back on Kono and come charging towards her. There was barely any time for her to react before Chin had smacked the dog, knocking him out. The dog hit the ground, obviously sick and hurting, but still breathing.

“Thanks, cuz,” Kono said, lowering her gun, but not putting it away. She had her eye on the dog that seemed to be knocked out.

“Everyone okay?” Danny asked to everyone in the camp. “Anyone bitten?”

“Me!” Came someone from one of the tents. Danny made a beeline after a pointed look towards Lou. Lou nodded.

Steve, however, went to the girl who was on the ground. She would probably have a nice concussion, but she was awake and bleeding. He could hear Lou calling it in, saying they’d need an ambulance and animal control.

“They took Kyla.”

“I know. We’re Five-0, we’re on it.”

~~~

_“Why did you tell her that story?”_

_“Because Kyla Smith’s abduction was our first big lead for that case!”_

_“You still haven’t told me about this false start of yours.”_

_A pause._

_“…I don’t really like talking about it.”_

_“Really? I hadn’t noticed.” A grin._

_“Danny…”_

_“Okay, okay.”_

_“It’s just that if this was such a big a problem that even your friends were worried, who’s to say it won’t come back in the future?”_

_A squeeze of hand holding._

_“I’m just trying to gauge where you two are.”_

~~~

**Danny’s childhood home, just after Christmas**

~~~

Danny had forgotten just how hectic one of his mother’s family dinners could be. It used to be his grandmother’s job, cooking and feeding well over forty people at once. It now fell on his ma and aunt’s shoulders. Eddie and Clara’s basement had been rearranged to fit all the tables needed. They sat in a row, all the adults at one table, all the kids at another, and filled their plates from the buffet against the wall.

Everyone wanted to talk to Danny.

_“You’ve been gone so long!”_

_“I hope you are wearing enough sunscreen every day. You’ve got enough Irish in you, you’ll burn right up.”_

_“The last time we saw you was the funeral, and that was no fun.”_

_“Are you dating anyone?”_

_“How’s the job like?”_

That last one was easy. “I’m actually enjoying it.” Steve perked up next to him, proud. Danny was certain he was going to use that against him later. He then raised his voice. “If I haven’t introduced you all yet, this is Steve, my partner in Five-0.”

“What exactly is Five-0, Daniel?” His Uncle Bill asked. “I thought you were a cop.”

“It’s still a police unit. It’s just a special forces unit backed by the governor of Hawaii,” His father added, quite proudly. Danny smiled under the attention.

“Oh,” His cousin Bill (not be confused with ‘Uncle Bill’ or with ‘second cousin Billy’) chimed in, “So you’re a glorified bodyguard for the governor?”

“No, more like for all of Oahu. We have to do a certain number of HPD cases a year to remain on the force, but for the most part, they are the particularly… risky cases.”

“Oh, like ‘who stole the tourist’s sunscreen?’” He didn’t know which uncle at the end of the table said that one, because half of the table laughed at that. His father lowered his fork and Danny knew they were only gearing up. “Or ‘which shark attacked a guy?’” His cousin Luke asked. The table laughed again.

“Do you track down sharks, Danny?”

“How exactly do you put cuffs on fins, I wonder.”

Danny’s shoulders fell, even though he fought it. He dropped his gaze to his plate and sighed. He’d heard it all before. He would try and try and his parents would try and try to convince the rest of the family that what he did was dangerous, and that he was good at what he did, but none of them would ever back down from the teasing.

It only got worse when they found out he was moving to Hawaii.

Of course, Steve was tense next to him, but hadn’t said a word.

“A real job in Hawaii would be a firefighter!” His Uncle Jimmy said. “Lightning strike fires are actually quite a problem there.”

“Oh yeah, there’s nothing quite like running into a burning building to get your heart pumping.”

“Yeah, it’s gotta be one of the most dangerous jobs there is!”

“Oh yeah, nothing at all like writing traffic tickets, huh Jay?”

Danny looked up to see his nephew Eric staring at him with a concerned face. It was the first time the kid had been home since he started his new job with the crime lab. He was nowhere near the danger, but he heard enough stories and assisted enough cases to know that their family was extremely wrong. Danny shook his head at him.

~~~ ****

**On the plane to the mainland**

****~~~

“One thing you’ve gotta know about my family is that they are all firefighters,” Danny told Steve. “All of them. Except me, most of the ones that are married in, and my sister Stella.”

“Okay,” Steve said, adjusting in his tight airplane seat. “Firefighters are good guys.”

They were sitting together, Jack on Danny’s chest. He did really good on takeoff, and even for the first few hours, very happy, and easily distracted by a tablet movie of Yo Gabba Gabba that Steve was smart enough to bring along. Jack was also one of those babies that enjoyed people watching, already so smart (for a four – almost five – month old.) For the last half hour or so he was ready for a nap, and the noise of the plane was just not agreeing with him. The only thing that was calming him down was the steady sound of Steve and Danny’s voices.

So they talked.

“Yeah, and usually they are,” Danny said. “Unless they are talking about my job.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m the first son in six generations not to be a firefighter. I get a lot of crap for it. Actually I get a lot of crap for a lot of things. I’m the shortest of the cousins, I’m the only one divorced before thirty, I'm the only bisexual..." (and that was the first time Danny had dropped that bit of information and his heart soared when Steve gulped) "...everything with Charlie, and – most of all – my baby sister, and I quote, ‘is more of a man than you for becoming a firefighter.’”

“Ouch.”

“Abigail doesn’t think that, thank goodness, and I know my dad gets crap about it sometimes too, but he’s always defending us, best he can. In his own way.”

~~~

His family was laughing at him, and his father was turning a bit red in the face, and the jabs kept coming and then-

“You know, being a Navy SEAL, I’ve been through a lot of dangerous situations,” Steve spoke up over the laughter with his Commander Tone, the one that could quiet a whole room. To Danny’s amazement, it did. He never thought anyone could do that to his family. “But this one time, I was negotiating a prisoner exchange for…” He laughed, “…quite a bit of money. We were on the border of a country that… well… didn’t really like Americans doing business in their country. And the woman I was negotiating for ending up betraying me to these people and I was captured. I was taken to their base on the other side of the border where I was held and questioned. And by questioned,” He eyed the kid’s table who were also listening intently, “I’m sure you adults can imagine what bad guys can do when they want information out of you.

“That went on for a couple days, and the woman who betrayed me was actually betrayed herself, and I knew I was alone.

“About end of day two, they decided to move me, threw me into the back of a caravan, and drove around, for I don’t know how long. I had passed out at one point. But then the caravan was attacked. Guns firing, explosions, the works.

"The flap on the back of the truck flipped open, and there was Danny.”

Danny dropped his silverware and rubbed his eyes. Several members of his family hadn’t even taken another bite since Steve had started talking and many of them were looking at Danny with wide eyes.

“He was in nothing more than a t-shirt and boots, attacking twenty-something guys with a handful of other people. All to rescue me.”

Danny heard his mother let out a steadying breath at the end of the table. He sent her what he hoped was a comforting look. She only smiled back at him. There was never any doubt in Danny’s heart that his mother was proud of him.

“I mean,” Steve said, pushing his ham around in the sauce a bit, “He didn’t run into a burning building covered in all sorts of protective gear, but it was North Korea.” Then he took a bite like he was dropping a microphone.

Danny actually never liked him more than he did in that moment.

Eric was the first to talk, “Oh shit, Uncle D!”

“Eric Russo!” Stella reprimanded. “Watch your language around the kids!”

“Sorry ma.”

Danny couldn’t help but smirk at him. The table was sobered after that, many of his aunts and uncles and cousins (and sisters, and mother, and father, and great aunt Phyllis) all had to have a new glass of wine after downing what they already had left.

Once conversation had started up again (not about firefighting, or Danny’s career, thank god) Danny leaned over to Steve so it was just between them. “I had forgotten what it was like having someone in my corner at a family dinner.”

“I’m always in your corner, Danno.”

Danny smiled at him, and he knew whatever was growing between them just grew a couple more sizes. Grace was right, this was inevitable and just around the corner and all they needed to do was to just let it happen. Steve leaned in, only a little, eyes on Danny’s lips. There was a moment were Danny really thought Steve was going to lean in and kiss him, right here, in front of his entire family, for the first time.

Then Steve’s eyes darted up to Danny’s, the soft smile on his face fell, and he turned back to his meal.  
Danny watched him for a few seconds longer, and then glanced up around the table to see if anyone had noticed. Eric had, giving him a knowing look. Danny rolled his eyes at him.

~~~ ****

**New Year’s Eve**

****~~~

“TEN!” The square shouted.

Everywhere was crowded and Danny hated being in crowds. He had done this several times in his youth, and even once with Rachel. Time’s Square on New Year’s Eve. The concerts were louder now. The ridiculous ‘2016’ glasses were _everywhere_ and people were blowing on their horns like mad men.

“NINE! EIGHT!”

But Grace was smiling wide, and yelling along with the crowd. It was worth it for her. For her, he had moved halfway across the globe, there really wasn’t anything he wouldn’t do for his little girl. But soon she’d be fourteen and she was growing up and being able to be witness to this wide, innocent joy was worth it. It would become a rarer sight in the next couple years. Watching her having this experience was worth any discomfort Danny was feeling.

“SEVEN! SIX!”

He looked over at Nahele, who was smiling wide too. He had found a pair of those silly ‘2016’ glasses on the ground and was wearing them proudly. He was bundled up tight, not used to this kind of cold, and was screaming just as loudly as Grace was. Nahele having this experience was worth it too, he realized. This boy had come to mean a lot to Danny over the last five months. He knew he wasn’t his official foster father, but screw that, he adored the kid.

“FIVE! FOUR!”

Grace and Nahele screamed at each other and Steve laughed at them, counting along, smiling as wide as Danny had ever seen him smile. His head was almost thrown back with it, but that would mean he’d have to take his eyes off their children. A quick thought of Nahele’s father coming along and ruining this small bit of… what exactly? What were they? He looked up to Steve and realized that they needed to talk, needed to re-define, needed to…

“THREE! TWO!”

Steve looked back down at him, face going soft.

“ONE! HAPPY NEW YEAR!”

Grace reached up to give Danny a sweet peck on his cheek, and he returned one on the side of her face. She pulled Steve down by his jacket and repeated the actions. Then Steve planted one on the top of her head, and pulled Nahele in by the neck and planted another one on his head. Nahele rolled his eyes when Danny moved to force him to duck his head so he could do the same thing and Grace laughed. Confetti fell around them so thick that he had to blow it off of Grace’s face.

Then Danny turned to Steve and it was like all the sound was muted, still there, but distant somehow. He blinked, and slowly smiled.

“Happy New Year, Steve,” He said.

Steve was leaning in and Danny was grinning wider, ready for this, been ready for this, for months, maybe even years.

“Happy New Year, Danny.”

Then they kissed, both sighing into it like maybe Steve had been ready for it for years too. Grace was never going to let them live this down. Danny took his arm from around Nahele to cup Steve’s face, the other pulled from around Grace to rest gently against Steve’s stomach. They kissed once, twice, and the third time was deliciously wet, but all three were chaste. They pulled back, smiling, Steve resting his forehead on Danny’s, enjoying the moment.

The volume turned back on when Grace was knocked into him from someone in the crowd, still a bit shaky on her walking cast. Danny backed away, all focus on his daughter.

“Hey, watch it!”

“Sorry!” The guy said, still moving along.

“I don’t care! I don’t care!” Grace said happily, bouncing up and down a little. She reached between Steve and Danny to smack Nahele on the chest a little bit. “They kissed! Our dads kissed!”

“I know,” Nahele laughed, “I was standing right here!”

Danny looked back to Steve, and Steve looked back at Danny and they both smiled widely.

~~~

They got back to the house around four, corralling two teenagers that had fallen asleep in the car into their beds. They were in Danny’s old room: the attic space that Eddie and Danny worked on the summer after Stella had gotten pregnant with Eric. The space that he’d move into so Stella could stay at home and be closer to Eric so she wouldn’t have to drop out of school or give her son up. Danny was actually happy to do this thing for his sister. It was more than her own twin brother had done for her back then.

(He was once asked to change a diaper and threw a whinny fit so bad that once Danny had changed it he turned it over and dumped it on his head. He was grounded for a week but it was worth it to hear his sister laugh.

But they didn’t talk about the bad things Matty did anymore. Clara made it an official rule before everyone gathered for the holidays. No one dared say anything bad about her little boy.)

Danny’s old room had a few new additions since he had moved out, including an industrial shelf full of Rubbermaid storage boxes and a few things he recognized that came out of Matty’s room. Other than that, his room was pretty much the same. Same old baseball trophies, same old Bon Jovi concert posters, stacks upon stacks of old CDs, and even a wardrobe full of old school shirts he’d never wear again.

But the newest addition was only for the week. Abigail, his baby sister, had brought her boy’s old crib over for Jack, and Steve was standing over him, watching with a bit of a grin. After he had taken off his shirt and slid into his sweatpants, ready for bed, Danny made his way over to him.

The train ride to where they parked the car had a lot of bouncing Grace and pleased Nahele and a lot of smiling Steve and Danny, but they didn’t talk about it. (Grace did, loudly and proudly, to which they would share a look and a smile and not say anything.) The car ride home though, that car ride home, after both kids had fallen asleep, Grace on Nahele’s shoulder, Nahele on Grace’s head, (the picture that Danny took of them almost woke them up, stupid flash) Steve reached over and grabbed Danny’s hand and held it between them on the console. Danny watched him, Steve’s eyes never left the road ahead of them, but he had a content smile, like that’s where his hand was supposed to be.  
And now, Danny slid his arms around him, and leaned around his shoulder to look down at a sleeping Jack too. Steve practically melted into him, and a bit of a thrill floated through Danny.

“Any second thoughts about adopting him?” He asked him.

“No,” Steve answered instantly. “I was just thinking that. That I am so sure about him. He’s my son.”

He turned in Danny’s arms then; his own arm’s going around Danny’s back.

“Is that strange?”

Danny shook his head. “Of course not. I could have told you that this would have happened the day you took him home.”

“How exactly could you have known that?”

“Because I know you, that’s how. You go zero to sixty faster than the Camaro.”

They kissed again after that, slow and sure. Danny opened his mouth to him at some point after they had hit the bed ( _‘His teenage bed!’_ His mind kept screaming at him. Seventeen year old him was so proud of him right now.) Steve pulled his own shirt off at some point after that and Danny moaned at all the contact he got after he wrapped his arms around him again, pulling him in for another searing kiss. Danny’s legs opened for Steve and Steve slid one leg down the inside of Danny’s calf. It was steady and unhurried and like the last ping of the lock they had built up around each other had been triggered.

“Okay, okay, wait,” Danny said when Steve’s hands got a little too close to his waist band. Steve pulled back, but Danny held his face, cupping it with his hand. “As much… as amazing as it would be to have sex in my childhood bed, we aren’t having our first time in the same room as our kid.”

Steve blinked at him, face blank for a second, and for a moment Danny thought he was just resetting himself for not having sex, but the next words out of his mouth floored Danny.

“‘Our kid?’” Steve repeated.

Danny took a deep breath at that, eyes up at Steve, feeling the weight of what he said. It had come so easily to him. ‘Our,’ ‘we,’ ‘us,’ he had said those words about Steve for years. ‘Our car,’ ‘we’re good,’ ‘look at us,’ like they were a set pair. But Jack… Danny turned his head to look over at Jack’s crib.

~~~ ****

**November**

****~~~

Steve was gone for a reserves week and Danny was in charge. The week had been a bit of blur of activity, what with Mary and Deb in town and everything they had planned, and Danny still needing to work for a few days because a governor case came up, but that Sunday … that Sunday was easy, really. Rachel had finally gotten a weekend with Grace; she had requested they’d have Charlie too, moving Danny’s time with his son around, and because of that Grace only allowed her one night. He watched a few games of ball with Nahele, threw a ball around awhile in borrowed gloves, and talked with him about what position he wanted to play.

And Jack.

He practically got Jack to himself all weekend.

Jack with his sweet chubby cheeks and his endearing nuzzling habit in Danny’s neck. He’d watch Danny with curious eyes as he fed him and was holding his head up stronger than ever and Danny was having a great time. Jack was the easiest baby he had ever had the honor of calling family. Even if there was a ‘foster’ in the title. Eric was a menace, and Abigail’s boys were messy. Jack wasn’t colicky like Grace, and he wasn’t Charlie – he’d never get to really know what his son was like when he was this small – but this little guy in his arms now was healing that coarse little ache Danny still held whenever he looked at Charlie.

And Jack loved Tummy Time. The two of them were asleep from Tummy Time when Steve came home that Sunday, Jack on his chest and hands fisted in Danny’s shirt. He would fight Tummy Time after that, if it wasn’t on Danny’s chest.

Danny felt very special.

~~~

Danny looked back up at Steve, lifted his chin in pure surety.

“Our kid,” He told Steve. Steve blinked a few times in… shock? Relief? A bit of both? Danny lifted his head and rubbed his nose against Steve’s in a sweet eskimo kiss. “If he’s your kid, he’s my kid.”

~~~

_“How was that your falling out?”_

_“You’re getting frustrated with us, aren’t ya’ doc?”_

_“A little bit, yeah.”_

_A shared laugh._

_“Well, the next bit is Steve’s part.”_

_An embarrassed sigh._

~~~

New Year’s Day was a bit of a blur. A final lunch with Danny’s parents, packing up four children for the airport, and a bit of a reunion between Steve and Mary had them focusing on everything but each other. They had driven to New York to meet her for lunch.

After Deb had passed away, Mary had decided to move back to Hawaii. But, in true Mary fashion, she decided she and Joan were going to start the year fresh, her final move to the island would be on New Year’s Day. (Boxes had been coming to the house for weeks, full of Mary and Joan’s things, waiting for them to come home to them. When the first one had shown up, it hit Steve that his sister really was coming home. He walked around all excited about for about a week.

_“I might actually get to have a relationship with my sister, Danny. For the first time in my life.”_

He hated it when his hopes rose, but he was certain that this would be a new chapter in his relationship with his sister.)

Danny had a teary goodbye with his parents; both of them surprising him at lunch that they wanted to celebrate their 40th Anniversary in Hawaii.

“What?” Danny exclaimed. “Really? The second trip to come see me in five years?”

“The girls might be coming too, we don’t know about Abigail just yet.”

“This is fantastic!” Danny was smiling and Grace had lit up Steve sat back from the table, taking it in.

This was his family, sitting around this table in this chain restaurant. His sister, his kids, his in-laws, and his… well. Danny. He wasn’t quite sure what last night had made them. If it changed anything at all, or if it was just a heat of the moment kind of thing. It was his family and Steve could not be happier.

~~~

_“Then why the hell did you throw a wrench in it?” A beat. “Excuse the language.”_

_A laugh._

_“I’m getting there.”_

~~~

The plane ride back was going to be a long one. One leg, no rest in between. With the time zones, it would work out that the kids would be asleep for most the second half, even if they landed in the evening. It was rough, but Steve had made the long flight once or twice, and Mary assured him that Joan did her best on the one leg trips, so Steve booked it and hoped for the best.

Before they got on the plane, they were waiting and Charlie had to go the bathroom and Danny was gone with both boys and Grace had her headphones on, watching planes out the window.

Nahele was quiet.

“Are you okay?” Steve asked him.

“Yeah,” He answered. But that was all. He still had half a frown on his face.

“You seem sad about something.”

He shrugged. “Just thinking about my mom.” Steve nodded, understanding the melancholy. “This isn’t going to last long, is it?”

“What?”

He shrugged. “Everyone’s… they always leave. Dad goes to jail. It wasn’t their fault but grandma died, and mom died. Got kicked around so much. Now dad’s back and I don’t know…”

Steve threw an arm around him. “There’s a lot of uncertainty in your life, isn’t there?”

He saw Nahele wipe at his eye.

“I’m not going anywhere.”

“Good,” He said. “Because I like it like is. I like it with you and Danny. Even if it’s only for a little bit longer.”

It hit Steve when Danny came back, babies in tow, that he and Danny were an uncertain thing. Jack was a certain thing, if he had anything to say about it, but what was Danny? He wanted Nahele to be a certain thing, even though it was out of his hands… but what was this thing with Danny?

‘Your kids are my kids,’ had been a mantra of theirs ever since Steve jumped into the foster parent business and Steve had never been more grateful for the balance that Danny brought to him, to his boys.

Would whatever this is… mess that up?

Could he put Nahele through that if it did?

Later, on the plane, Mary turned around to talk to Danny.

“So, a little birdie told me you own a house and might be looking for renters.”

Danny rolled his eyes, holding the bottle steady for Jack. Something he did without prompting. Was Steve really questioning this?

“Was that little birdie named Eric Russo?”

“Maybe,” Mary singsonged. “Anyway, I was wondering if you’d be lenient on a tenant’s first month’s rent if you knew she was a single mom and had just moved to Hawaii.”

“‘Wondering’, huh?”

Mary nodded. “It’s important to have a good relationship with your tenants, Danny.”

“I’m sure it is,” Danny laughed. “You’d have to fight my nephew.”

“Oh, I may have talked to him on more than one occasion about this situation.”

Danny laughed again, “Just ask me what you want to ask me, Mary.”

“Will you rent your house to me at a discount rate until I get a job? I’ve got daycare for Joan I’ve got to worry about, and that alone is like a second rent, I’m sure you know, and it’s the most stressful thing, knowing that your house is full and it can’t be a backup for us. Thanksgiving was rough for all of us.”

“You have two months,” Danny said. “Unless you get a job! Then it’s one month.”

Mary threw up her arms in celebration. “Yes! Thank you Danny. You made this single mom’s New Year.”

“You caught me in a really good mood,” Danny said, glancing over at Steve with a grin. Steve gulped and licked his lips.

“Oh, I may have heard that from another little birdie,” She looked over at Grace and she and Grace shared a conspiratorial look.

Oh no, Aunt Kono 2.0.

“Truth is, I’m actually really excited to come home, ya’ know?” She told Danny. “Ever since everything with dad…”

Steve tuned them out after that, helping Charlie with a video on the tablet. Now was not the time to think about dad, and how he could turn into dad, and how Danny had gotten divorced before he was thirty even though he was so much like his dad, and how mom lied about everything, and how everything was so unstable, and maybe Steve felt like the last five months were a whirlwind of change but Nahele felt like it was stable…

He didn’t want that to change for his foster son. He wanted to give him stability and certainty for as long as he was with them. He turned away from Charlie, to Nahele sitting across the aisle from him. The boy must have felt eyes on him, because he looked up from his music to Steve, and after a beat, smiled widely. Steve weakly smiled back.

No way was he going to let things change.

…but that meant…

He put his eyes back on Danny, who was easily chatting with his sister and feeding his son and-

Oh, he couldn’t take this, he was going to be sick. He stood up quickly, and made his way to the back of the plane, pacing the four or five steps he could take back in the galley.

“Sir?” One of the attendants said. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah,” He lied. “Just need to stretch my legs.”

“Of course,” She said, nodding, leaving him.

Only a few moments after that did Danny follow him. “You okay? You took off like you were sick.”

Steve only stared at him, not quite believing what he was about to do. Everything he wanted set before on a plate and he was about to tell the waiter to take it away.

Danny took a step towards him, hands going to cup his arms in a move that could only be described as tender. Steve closed his eyes at the touch. “Hey… what’s wrong?”

“I…” Steve bit at himself, the part of himself that ached at the thought, reigning it in like the good sailor that he is. “I don’t think I can do this.”

Danny paused. “What? Do what?”

“This,” He knew the word he had to use. _“Us.”_

Danny let his hands fall off of Steve’s arms, and he took a step back. He took a deep breath in and then let it out slowly. Steve waited for a reaction.

“Is this a Big Gay Freakout or whatever because if it is-“

Steve rolled his eyes, “It is not a Big Gay Frea- I’m in the Navy, Danny!”

 _“What does that have to do with it?”_ Danny said a bit loudly, realized where he was, and lowered his voice to a whisper. “What does being in the Navy have to do with being okay with being gay?”

“Okay first off, I’m not gay,” Steve whispered. That much was true, at least. He’d known he was bi since his mid-twenties, thank you very much. “Second… you have to be- it’s almost a prerequisite to be a little bit gay to be in the Navy, Danny.”

“Okay…” Danny’s mouth opened and closed a couple times. “Then tell me why.”

Steve swallowed a lump in his throat. “There’s too many… I don’t know…” He was trying to find the words. “If it were just me I had to think about…”

Danny’s face closed up at that. Steve knew he struck a chord.

“You don’t think I’m good with your kids?” Danny asked, hurt in his voice, in his posture, how his hands fell to his side instead of waving around in front of him as they had this entire conversation, written all over his face.

“That’s not what I mean,” Steve said.

“Then explain it,” Danny said, in a tone he had only really ever heard a few times, when Grace was taken, in Marco Reyes’ basement. Dark and angry and emotional. It was heartbreaking to hear it focused on him. As much as the two of them argue, he has never sounded like that.

“We have a fifty/fifty chance between,” Steve held up one hand, “the best thing that could happen,” he held up the other, “and losing each other. And neither of us really has the best track record with making a relationship last. You’re divorced and I couldn’t get a girl I was with for almost a decade to marry me. I don’t… I can’t take those odds. Okay? I can’t lose you.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I could chance if it were just me but…” Steve looked up the aisle, to where Nahele was reaching across the aisle, playing with Charlie. “We’ve got to stop this before it goes any further, and we don’t have a chance to back out and be what we are.”

“And what is that?”

“Friends, Danny. Friends.” Nail, meet coffin.

With that Steve turned to go back to his seat.

~~~

_“Needless to say that was the worst flight I’ve ever been on.”_

_“I’m sorry.”_

_“How many times have I told you that you can stop apologizing for that?”_

_“Probably at least one more time every time it’s brought up.”_

_A groan._

_“You sap.”_

_A grin. A chuckle._

_“Sounds like your basic, run of the mill, fear of commitment.”_

_“Add in a dose of abandonment issues, and a pinch of control freak, and you’re right on the money, Doc.”_

_A sigh._

_“But please, whatever you do, don’t tell Nahele his conversation was what started it and caused everyone to be angry and upset for so long. It really wasn’t about him, it was about me, but he won’t take it that way. He can’t know.”_

_“I get that, though have you talked about any of this fear with your kids?”_

_A laugh. “You want us to talk to our kids about how there’s been a talk of a chance their parents’ll break up? I’ve done that to Grace once already; I really don’t want to do it again.”_

_“Is that fear you’ll break up still such a problem?”_

_A pause. A look._

_“Not really. I had a bit of an epiphany.”_

_“What made you change your mind?”_

_“Danny almost died.”_

_A glare._

_“You always get to the best things when we end a session.”_

~~~


	8. Chapter Seven

“They aren’t together.”

“Nope.”

“But they are sharing a room? A bed?”

“Yep.”

“My brother is an idiot.”

Grace liked Mary. She always had. She was sweet and she tried hard and she, on more than one occasion, had called Danno asking this question and that question always worried about her daughter.

(If Grace really thought about it more, it probably had to do with how she was so dedicated to her daughter and always talked to Grace like she wasn’t a child, but she didn’t. She was a good mom, that’s all she really needed to know.)

“Yes,” Grace told her. “Sadly, he is.”

“What are you two talking about over there?” Steve called out.

“Girl stuff,” Mary immediately answered. Grace giggled.

~~~ ****

**This was in November**

****~~~

“‘Girl stuff,’ huh?” Steve repeated as he made his way over. “That could be dangerous.”

They were having a nice little party, just the Williams and McGarretts this time, to welcome Deb home after her cruise. She was sitting on the lanai, content with playing silly faces with a happy Jack while Steve and Nahele were throwing a baseball back and forth. (After their conversation about trying out for the baseball team a few nights before, Steve had gone out and bought a glove for him, and a pack of balls, much to Nahele’s embarrassment.) Danny was cooking something that already smelled delicious, but was waiting on a timer and was giving Nahele some pointers (and Steve a hard time about his throw, _“I was a quarterback, Danny. I know how to throw a ball.” “Well, a baseball is a little different than a football, QB. Knuckles up, not out!”_ ) Charlie and Joan were playing in the outside shower with happy little squeals.

Mary and Grace, however, were sitting on the chairs on the beach gossiping. Mary wanted some updating on her brother that didn’t come out of his own mouth, it seemed. She was very interested in Grace’s parent trapping plan.

She had told Mary what Phase Two was already, hoping to get her on board with the whole plan. Steve interrupting, however…

“How could some harmless talk be dangerous?” Mary answered innocently.

Yeah, Grace liked her.

She smiled just as innocently up at her Uncle Steve.

“Uh-huh,” He moaned. “Danno says dinner is ready. Come on.”

“Okay,” they nodded.

“We’ll be just a minute,” Mary winked at him. Steve nodded, a curious look at Grace. Then the two siblings shared some kind of conversation Grace couldn’t follow before Steve rolled his eyes, smiled, and headed back up towards the lanai.

“So, about the downstairs bedroom…”

~~~

_“What was this Phase Two?”_

_A grin._

_“Well, Uncle Steve and Danno had already implemented it without my help. I was going to get them to share a bedroom, but they beat me to it.”_

_“What do you mean?”_

_“I broke my leg last fall and those first couple days I was too groggy and in pain to get up the stairs, so I lived on the couch. Because of that, Danno kinda just… moved into Uncle Steve’s room after that. Even after I was getting better they just kept it up. Except for January, at least.”_

_A chuckle._

_“Right? At one point Nahele and I had to ask if they were together or not.”_

_“Ooh, how’d that go?”_

~~~ ****

**Halloween weekend**

****~~~

“Okay guys, we have to ask.”

Nahele sat back from his homework in a bit of shock, looking over at Grace, “What do _we_ have to ask?”

“Yeah, what?” Danny asked, leaning into Steve on the couch, some kind of sports center thing on low.

It was a bit unfair, in Grace’s opinion, that Nahele was easily smart enough to be able to do both his homework and watch sports at the same time. Grace really couldn’t care less about what was on the television, but her homework was still giving her the run-a-round.

“Okay fine, _I have to ask_ ,” Grace told Nahele. “Did something change or are you two together or not?”

The thing was, they may have been watching sports center, Nahele at the coffee table, Grace at the dining room table. But Steve and Danny were sharing one half of the couch, Steve’s arm around her father, her father nuzzled into his side like they were an actual, ga-ga for each other couple.

“No, okay, it’s ‘we,’” Nahele said, turning back on Steve and Danny, dropping his pen and focusing everything on the two of them sharing the couch.

“What makes you say that?” Steve asked immediately.

Then they both looked at each other and then looked down at each other, seemingly just realizing how they were sitting when Steve pulled back his arm and Danny sat up and scooted over. Of course, Grace responded just as immediately as Steve did.

“You guys share a goddamn bedroom!”

“Language!” Danno said on instinct.

Then after a few moments.

“We aren’t together.”

They didn’t talk to each other the rest of the night, sitting on opposite ends of the couch, straight backed, and hands in their laps.

~~~

_“Danno slept on the couch that night, and the next I think, but his excuse after that was ‘back aches.’”_

_“I’m sure. But you like your Aunt Mary?”_

_A grin._

_“She is kind of my Aunt, isn’t she?”_

_A nod._

_“Do you have any others?”_

_“Well, my dad’s sisters. Aunt Kono. Mum’s got a big sister. So, yeah, I have a bunch.”_

_“Are you close with them?”_

_A shrug._

_“As close as any Aunt is, I suppose. I email with them all, because texting is so expensive between countries and the mainland, but yeah. I suppose.”_

_“That’s good. Anyway, back to your story from before.”_

~~~

A few days after Uncle Steve’s Aunt Deb showed up, Steve, unfortunately, had to go to reserves training for a week.

But Aunt Mary and Danno took full advantage of it.

They cleaned out the downstairs bedroom. The one that used to be Steve’s dad’s room.

Deb had settled in nicely at her condo she rented, and was enjoying a bit of a spa day offered to her by the condo owners. They set things aside for Steve and Mary to really go through after a while had passed (it was causing her to get a bit emotional) and separated everything by what it was; everything went straight up into the attic over the garage. Nothing was really thrown away; (save some old socks and the like) for fear that they’d throw out something that meant something to Steve. Mary took a few items out of her mother’s jewelry box, and an old seashell that apparently meant something to her. Everything else went up the stairs of the garage to the attic.

…which was all thanks to Nahele, really. They were out of school for a professional day and Danno was taking full advantage of them, too. Grace still had her cast on her leg ( _“Two more weeks!”_ She had shouted the morning Steve had left.) but she was still put to work. She was given separating duty. Danny and Mary would pile things up on the bed and she’d put them in boxes in front of her.

“Are you sure you want to do this,” Danno asked Aunt Mary for like, the hundredth time that day. “I mean, I’ve been wanting him to do this for years… But… Are you sure you don’t want to wait for Steve?”

Mary smiled at him. “I know we said we’d go through this together, and packing it all up isn’t really going through it, not really. I know we said we’d do it soon-” She paused, looking out into the living room, checking for someone. Presumably Joan, who was still upstairs taking a nap. “With everything we have coming with Deb, I seriously doubt we’ll want to anytime soon, not after packing up her house. Plus, this way you guys free up another room!”

“Yeah,” Grace perked up. It was her cue after all. Mary winked at her. “We can put the babies in Steve’s old room.”

“What?”

“I mean, you guys have been talking about how to do it for a few weeks now. Jack’s turned three months old a few days ago; you want to get him out of your room soon. And you don’t want him with either of us older kids,” Nahele showed up in the doorway, back from taking another box of things from the bathroom up to the garage. Grace pointed up at him, “-and me and Nahele can’t share because of foster-kid rules. And even if there wasn’t a rule, I imagine it would be the bathroom fight times ten.”

Nahele was smart. Nahele caught on quick. Grace adored her foster-brother and his willingness to participate in her Phases. “And honestly three kids in one room is going to be tight in Grace’s room no matter what.”

Danny looked thoughtful. “Alright,” He said. “That only means more work for you and me,” He told Nahele.

“What?”

“We’ve got to take Steve’s bed out to the attic.”

Nahele made a face.

“What?” Mary asked, affronted. “I could help you do that.” And then confused, “Wait. Why are we taking his bed to the attic? I thought it was going in here.”

“I bought a bigger one to fit in this room,” Danny said with a smirk. Then he saw that everyone had a bit of a shocked look on their faces. “This is a huge room! It needed a bed to match. …and then I bought the dresser because Steve and I fight over the one upstairs as it is. Jack’s things have taken over most of it anyway, so that’s probably good, moving everything up there. Charlie could have room for stuff too. Then, of course, it ended up being cheaper to buy the nightstands to match.”

Mary blinked at him, and then turned to Grace like _‘is he serious?’_ “That’s a lot, Danny.”

Danny shrugged, finally taking a break, flopping himself down next to Grace. “It’s repayment for letting us live here while our house is getting some much needed repairs. A hotel bill would have been much larger.”

“Speaking of repairs,” Grace said, looking towards Mary. “The bathroom in there works now! When I was hurt,” She held up Purple Wonder, “Steve finally called a plumber so I wouldn’t have to go up and down the stairs all the time.” Mary looked at her approvingly. That had been on Mary’s to-do list when the two of them talked, but Steve had called for them a second time, and Grace hadn’t had a chance to tell her.

Danny smiled, pulling Grace close and kissing her head. “I just wish it didn’t take bodily harm of someone he cares about for that man to listen to me.”

Grace chuckled.

“Maybe I can talk Steve into letting me have that bed of his when I move back to Hawaii,” Mary wondered out loud. “It would save on moving costs.”

“I bet he would.”

“There’s a twin up there too for Joan maybe,” Nahele told them. “Steve mentioned it when I moved in, but he wasn’t sure about the mattress and then my mattress came with a deal on a bedframe, so...”

“Cool, even better,” Mary grinned.

“So what are these different boxes you’re doing?” Danno asked, kicking at one of them.

“Well, that one and that one are clothes by pants and shirts, but we’re going to need more soon.” She looked up at Nahele, “These are pretty much ready to go.”

“I’ll get on it,” He said, but didn’t move, taking the break with them.

She pointed at one, “This one is John’s police stuff and some of it I think would make a pretty cool shadow box if he wants to, so I wanted to keep it out of the attic.”

“That’s neat, Grace,” Mary told her.

“And then this one is going to be the lamps and the books on the shelf when we get to them and other room stuff like the clock and the phone, stuff that wouldn’t be hurt by dust in the attic.”

“Is the shelf going in the attic too?” Nahele asked.

“Yep,” Danno said with an eye on Mary and he motioned to her. “We talked about it. If we’re going to make this Steve’s room, it’s gotta be Steve’s room. All his stuff, none of John’s. Everything old out, everything back in has to be new. Or… new-ish.”

They all giggled.

“I also want to keep the crib down here until Steve’s ready to move him, we’ll have to put a lock on the outside of the outside door somehow, but I like the idea of the babies in the same room.”

~~~

_“You built them a room.”_

_“Yep. We really needed the space.”_

_“How’d Steve take it?”_

_A smile._

~~~

“You guys did this for me?” He asked quietly, still in his camos, peeking into the room around the frame of the door like he was still a little kid looking into his father’s room. He slowly stood up straight, moving into the room, looking around at everything. “Where’d you get the furniture?”

“Ask Danny,” Mary told him.

Steve gave him a bit of glare. Danno only shrugged. “We can argue about that later.”

The furniture was a dark, deep wood, almost black. The headboard was simple and squared, with vertical slats, with three thick boards separating them in the middle and ends, and up against the far wall under one of the windows. The dresser was tall; Mary and Deb had found a table, a trunk that sat underneath it, and shelves on a street market shopping trip to the North Shore that matched perfectly.

“I wanted to spoil you a bit,” Deb told him. “You deserve some nice things that weren’t your father’s things.”

Steve looked at her with a sweet face.

“I thought the trunk would be a good place to keep all your Navy things when you don’t need them,” She suggested, “But you can use it for anything.”  
He nodded it, inspecting it in silence.

“We thought since you can put a lock on it, it’d be good for all the knives and things,” Mary added. “You know, with the babies in the house.”

He nodded again.

Steve was always a bit of a Spartan decorator, but Danno was not. Danno (okay, it was mostly Grace) went wild with the lamps and the curtains and the rugs on either side of the bed and the rugs and shower curtain in the bathroom. Dark blues and grays against white walls.

(One night during the light remodel, Grace looked up how much a month at a hotel would cost and her father was right, this was cheaper.)

Nahele had put a few of the model ships Steve had worked on, both by himself and with Nahele, on the shelf. Charlie had often asked to play with them and Steve was hesitant to let him. There was also a small hotwheels version of the Marquis that Nahele had found with Grace out shopping months ago he had bought on a whim. But otherwise, they held Jack’s things, his crib still smushed against the wall under the second window.

Cleaned up and curtains open, the palmgrass from outside was peeking up above the window sill. It was actually kind of pretty, the new view he had. A bit of the room jutted out past the kitchen, just enough for a window and the stairs down to the yard from the upstairs balcony. Grace found herself jealous of the view while they were working. It was a clear view of the whole yard and a bit of the beach. Steve took a moment to enjoy it.

“All the colors are supposed to be like the Navy, Uncle Steve,” Grace said unsure suddenly at Steve’s long silence. He turned to her with a small smile.

“None of that pineapple decoration stuff like you bought for your old room. I’m sure you went out and bought the first thing you found, didn’t you?”

Steve turned and gave Danno with a glare. “Don’t mock me.” Then he turned back to the room. “Where is everything?”

“In the attic,” Mary told him. Then she rolled her eyes. “You and I can go through it anytime. And I made sure dad’s uniforms were put in the proper garment bags and they are in the closet under the stairs with mom’s wedding dress and your old football uniform.”

He was quiet as he took everything in, especially the one picture Mary insisted needed to stay. He picked it up off the dresser with reverence. She moved into the room, to inspect it over his arms.

“That’s the last picture we took as a family,” She said, emotions betraying her. “Dad kept it. All these years. We found in here, I gave it a new frame. I may have scanned it for myself first, though.”

He threw an arm around her and pulled her close with a chuckle. “We’re going to have to take another picture before you go home again. Give it an updated partner.”

“That sounds like a fantastic idea,” Deb said, making her way over to the two of them, hugging Mary from the other side.

(They would end up doing that the next Wednesday on the beach behind the house, when they had Charlie; Grace lifting him up like Steve was holding Mary in the photo. Jack in Danny’s arms with his hands all over Danny’s face. Steve’s arm around Nahele who was smiling freely, Aunt Deb and Mary embraced, watching Joan hanging off of Steve’s back like a monkey. Aunt Kono took lots of pictures that day, serious, all of them lined up. But the snapshot she had captured was the best of the bunch. It now sat next to the older photo, in a matching frame, on the same shelf in her dads’ room.)

Steve wiped at his eye and then Mary sniffed as she nodded and they both laughed to break the moment. Then he sat the photo back down with equal reverence to how he picked it up, and went to throw an arm around his Aunt.

Grace was glad she pulled it back out when she saw it in a pile of frames her father had put on the bed for her to pack. Pictures of John with other police officers, Steve and Mary when they were little, one, fancy picture of what had to be Steve’s mother when she was young, and that one. All four of them, smiling and happy on the beach. Steve was lifting Mary so her feet were swinging around. It looked like a fun day.

(Mary was moved to see her father had kept it and excused herself when she started crying when they were packing.)

“So,” Danno started. Grace watched as her father bounced on his toes and stuffed his hands in his pockets. He only ever put his hands in his pockets when he was nervous or uncomfortable or self-conscious. “Do you like it?”

Steve looked over at him, his face growing into a smile, and Danno had his answer. Danno smiled back.

Grace smiled and Nahele let out a breath. She nudged him with the foot of her crutch as a way to question if he was okay. He shook his head at her, gave her a face that said ‘it’s nothing, don’t worry,’ and smiled.

“This bed is huge, Danny!” Steve finally said, moving out the impromptu small family hug with, throwing an arm towards it with a huge smile. “What the hell?”

Danny laughed. “I got a good deal?” He tried.

“Right, I don’t believe that for a second,” Steve told him. Then he looked up at the ceiling fan. “We’re going to have to replace that, though. It doesn’t work anymore.”

“Man, we missed somethin’,” Mary said, a bit dejected.

“Oh, I don’t need a fan,” Steve said, pointing at himself, and then looking back up at the thing, probably already trying to figure out how to get it down. He pointed at Danno absently. “Someone else would complain without it, though.”

Grace’s mouth dropped open at the slip, at what it meant. She shared an excited look with Nahele and then Mary. Mary had snickered, but she winked at Grace.

Danno understood immediately too it seemed because he changed the subject, “So do you like it or not, you jerk? We spent most of the week on this room.”

He took a deep breath, and turned to Danno. “I like it.”

“Good,” Danny said. “Now you get to help with the boy’s room.” He pointed upward.

“What?”

~~~

_“Alright, now the hard question. How are things with your mom?”_

_A frown. A shrug._

_“She’s doing better.”_

_“Your dads mentioned something about her leaving this winter?”_

_A nod._

_“For how long?”_

_“Like, three months? Or so. She just up and left. She does that. She got mad when daddy won shared custody and couldn’t take me with her just whenever she felt like it.”_

_“Has she done it often before that?”_

_A nod._

~~~ ****

**2007**

~~~

“Mummy, where are we going?” Grace asked as her mother was packing her a suitcase. She was throwing all sorts of things in there. Nice dresses, her tennis shoes and her Kim Possible shirt, swimsuits, and sandals.

“Florida, sweetheart,” She said as she started gathering some hair supplies off of Grace’s dresser. “Will you go get your toothbrush please?”

“No, why are we going to Flordia?”

Her mother stopped packing and turned to her with a wide smile, kneeling down to her level. “Stan is taking us to Disney World, isn’t that exciting?”

“Disney World?” Grace squeaked out and started jumping. Her mother started laughing. “Is Danno coming too?”

Her mother’s face fell stern. “No, sweetheart, it’ll just be me and Stan.”

Grace stopped jumping, “Is it because of the fight you guys had last week when he dropped me off?”

She sighed, standing up and turning back to the clothes she was packing for Grace. “No, sweetheart.”

~~~

_“…I’m pretty sure it was a lie.”_

_“You got to go to Disney World though!”_

_“Yeah but the look on Danno’s face when he learned I went without him kinda made me feel bad about going. I didn’t really enjoy it.”_

_“He didn’t know you were going?”_

_A shake of the head._

_“But the fight he and mum had was definitely about her and Stan getting engaged, because they told me that they were getting married on that trip.”_

~~~ ****

**2009**

****~~~

Her mother blew into the house, Stan quick behind her. He pushed past Grace with a smile, roughing up her hair a bit. She didn’t care, it was late. They had just been outside fighting. They always went outside to fight.

“Alright Grace, get ready to pack a bag.”

“Where are we going now?”

“To England, darling.”

“To visit Nan and Pa?”

“Yep.”

“But this weekend is Danno’s weekend. Are we leaving after that?”

“No, you’re father will just have to settle for another weekend to see you.”

“But I want to see him!”

“We’re going to England for a few weeks,” she said, pulling out a laptop, “I’m buying the plane tickets now. We’ll leave tomorrow, or the next day.”

Grace turned to look down the hall where Stan disappeared to. “Did Stan go to pack a bag?”

“Stan’s not going to be joining us this trip, sweetheart.”

“I want to call Danno and tell him.”

Her mother didn’t look up from the laptop, “Actually, I’d like to tell him, if you don’t mind.” Then, “Either go pack or get ready for bed.”

“Mum!”

“Go, Grace!”

~~~

_“I’m pretty sure that fight was about moving to Hawaii or Las Vegas.”_

_“Las Vegas?”_

_A nod._

_“That’s where Stan’s company has another office. There’s another one in New York, and another one in Florida.”_

_“Do you go to those places often?”_

_“Yeah, and Seattle. That’s where Stan’s family is from. And there were a lot of little trips all the time. Into the city when we lived in Jersey. Sometimes we’d go to D.C. for the weekend and walk around museums, or we’d go to this cabin that Stan had on a lake and ride jet skis, and every time I had to tell Danno what we did and he’d get sadder and sadder.”_

_“Like he was missing out?”_

_A nod._

_“Has she had many trips since the one this winter?”_

_“Yeah, but none with me or Charlie, and none we didn’t know about. She always told, at least me, that she was leaving.”_

_“Did your dads tell her they were taking you to New Jersey for Christmas?”_

_“I think so, because that Christmas Eve with her was rough.”_

~~~ ****

**Christmas Eve**

****~~~

They had already opened presents. All fancy things, like a tablet (Charlie got a Kindle thing) and Grace got giant headphones, and expensive make up Danno certainly wouldn’t let her wear yet, and a zillion clothes she didn’t need or want, and a fancy bag Grace knew for a fact was at least as expensive as her new tablet.

Charlie got an erector set of this giant shark that Grace told him Danno or Stan would love to build with him, that it’d be so cool to hang from the ceiling of one of his rooms. He got excited about that and told her that Stan had already gotten him a giant blow up shark for the pool at his house and a bunch of dive toys that were shaped like sharks, _“so it would probably be better at Danno’s and the fish tank is there, that’ll be cool like he’s trying to eat Goldie!_ ” (the ridiculously cliché name that Danno had come up with as a joke and Charlie took seriously so it stuck) and her mother grew a sour look on her face.

“Is he really moving out?” Grace asked her, when Charlie became distracted by a remote control car Rachel had worked diligently to get out of the box and put batteries in.

“It’s temporary,” She told her, looking a bit unsure.

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault,” Her mother petted her hair and the side of her face. Then, “I wanted to talk to you about something, though. We’ve gotten better about talking, haven’t we?”

“Yeah, I think we have.”

“So, I was wondering if you’d like to move back home?”

Grace blinked, and pulled back from her mother a bit. ‘Home,’ for her mother had always meant London. Grace positively _did not_ want to move to London. “Move where?”

“Back in here! With me!”

“I’m home with Danno, too.”

“Yes, but, that was just until we were on better footing, and I think we are, don’t you?”

Grace hesitated. Sure, they were on better footing, but they weren’t like they were before. Grace doubted they ever would be, not really. Plus, Danno’s house was more… more. More comfortable, more inviting, busier with people that she loved, and held her… her family. Her brothers, and Danno, and Uncle Steve and

“I don’t want to leave Steve and Danno. I like living with them,” She said.

“But your home is with me,” Her mother tried again, like she was talking to child who wouldn’t listen. Grace was listening just fine; she just didn’t like what she was hearing. “You’re going to be going through some changes soon, and you’re going to need your mother.”

“Yeah, but I like living with Danno,” She insisted. “It’s not like you’re not going to be further than a few miles away whenever I need you.”

“You don’t like living here?”

Grace’s mouth dropped for a few times. “I lived with you for so long; I want to live with Danno for a while, too. While I still can.”

“But I would rather you be here,” Her mother asserted.

“But I don’t want to live here!”

“What is so bad about this place?” She asked. “There’s a pool, and so much space, and you’d get your own bathroom. What is so bad?”

The thing about the matter at hand was this: for most of her life, Grace had known “home” to mean either loud and angry or quiet and stiff.

When it was the three of them – mum, Danno, and Grace – it was loud. She knew that her parents had loved one another at one point, but she couldn’t remember a time where they weren’t shouting at one another, or doors would slam, or Danno would come home late looking ten types of tired, sneaking into her room when he thought she was asleep to watch her sleep. Her mother would walk around with a sour look on her face, and her father would hold her tight and tell her they didn’t mean to be so loud.

When it was her mother and Stan, it was completely different. It was quiet. She always wore headphones, afraid, somehow, that she’d disturb the silence. Everything was clean lines, and not a hair out of place, and silk shirts, and expensive tastes. With all the elegance came a stiff, never talked about agreement: that no one would talk about things that meant anything.

Then Charlie came along and he had his own space in the house, like he was separate part of Grace’s life and she didn’t have to pay attention to him if she didn’t want to. Of course she wanted to. She loved her baby brother proudly and easily. She tried to spend as much time with him as he could; she had missed his constant presence these last few months. He was her favorite part about living with her mother.

Her homes had been…

Grace didn’t know any different, that homes could be warm. They could be inviting. They could feel like a safe haven. They could be a place you looked forward to going to after a long day. She didn't know until Danno moved to Hawaii, and found a stable house, and clutter filled his walls, and silly snapshots filled every surface and the furniture was well used, and he wore a smile and demanded a hug every time she walked through his door.

The feeling only intensified when she moved into a house full to the brim with brothers and fathers. Fathers that fought, but without heat, who adored each other, who cared and loved their children fiercely and let them know it as often as they could. With brothers who teased her, challenged her, counted on her, needed her. The only thing that would make Steve and Danno’s house better was if Charlie were there more often. Charlie had been pulled in three different directions for months, and Grace knew that it was important he spent time with all of his parents but… she missed him terribly.

All of this could be traced back to one, giant lie.

“You,” She finally answered. “The problem is you.”

“Pardon me?”

“You are the reason Charlie has three Christmases!” Her voice rose, going for the sucker punch.

Her mother sat back, affronted, “That is… That’s a bit uncalled for, don’t you think?”

“No!” Her voice rose again and her eyes started to water like they did whenever they’d get worked up with each other. “It’s not! It’s your fault! You lied, thinking it would solve everything when all it did was make things worse.”

“Grace…” Her mother reprimanded. “Please calm down; you’re so much like your father when you get angry.”

“Good!” Grace told her, making sure her accent was as American as she could get it. “It was probably your fault you and daddy got a divorce in the first place!” She practically shouted.

“That is untrue!” Her mother raised her voice as well, raising herself to her feet. “His job was keeping him from coming home, and it was too dangerous, and he never wanted to spend a weekend away, and all he wanted to do was work work work and get his bad guy! Always so focused on the bad guy! Never any time for us!”

“Why do you think he always wanted to work?! It was probably to get away from you! Because at least with bad guys he could arrest them after they yelled at him!”

“That is enough!” Her mother shouted.

They paused at that. Her mother’s voice loud and angry. Grace took the moment to shake her head and turn towards the hallway to go cool off in the isolation of her bedroom, but stopped still. Charlie was standing in her way, remote control car forgotten on the floor by his feet, face already starting to cry. He was wiping at his eyes and had his other hand fisted in his shirt looking a couple years younger than he was.

All her anger sobered up at the sight.

“Oh, Charlie,” Grace lamented, “I’m so sorry, come here.” She held her arms out for her little brother and he dropped the remote to his car, going to her with his own arms held out. The whine he let out as he did broke Grace’s heart. She met him in the middle, dropping to her knees to hug him. He was full out crying by the time she was holding him.

“Shh, shh, I’m sorry, it’s okay. We didn’t mean to yell, okay?”

They were words her father used to say to her. They were always so comforting.

“We’re sorry, okay buddy? It’s going to be okay,” She repeated as she rocked him and shushed him and ran a soothing hand up and down his back. “We didn’t mean to get so loud, okay?”

Charlie nodded, “I wanna go home,” He moaned.

“You are home,” Their mother told him in a soft voice moving closer, but not to hold either one of them. “You both are.”

“I want daddy,” He said through a sniff. “I want daddy or Danno.”

Grace nodded, pulling back to look at her brother. “I can call Danno and tell him to come pick us up early?”

Charlie nodded quickly.

“You don’t have to leave, you only just got here!” Her mother said. “I never get to see you anymore!”

“Well, neither of us want to be here right now,” Grace said, picking up her brother to take to her room with her.

~~~

_“That does sound rough, I’m sorry.”_

_A shrug._

_“My friend Lucy fights with her mom too.”_

_A pause._

_“I’m sure that’s comforting.”_

_A low, sad voice._

_“It’s okay. I’m just more like Danno than I am like her, and she can’t stand that.”_

~~~


	9. Chapter Eight

~~~

_“So, Doc. We were wondering if you could give us an update? On how we’re all doing? We got to talking with Stan last weekend about all this. Wondering how we’re doing. We’re all kind of… unsure.”_

_“That’s to be expected. I usually find that to be true when I do individual sessions with families. Mostly it gives families time and space to rant about the others. Some of your family need to more than others, and that’s fine. You’re all in very different places in your life and relationships. I’d like you all to keep coming as you need to, especially the kids, after your court mandated time is up. I really think it would help, with so many parents involved.”_

_“Do you think so many parents is confusing or hurting the kids?”_

_“I deal with plenty of four parent families. The ones that try and want to make things work, never seem to hurt the kids. You’re right Detective. You can never have too many people loving a child. And all of you seem to really want to make this work.”_

_“Good.”_

_“It’s good to hear that Charlie and Stan went with you on your fishing trip that weekend or so ago. Charlie couldn’t stop talking about how he saw a shark.”_

_“It won't be the last time you hear that story. That child loves sharks. I don’t get it. But… it is why I call him ‘Hammerhead.’”_

_“Kids always amaze me, and every kid is different. They either love things that could eat them, or they are terrified of them.”_

_A laugh._

_“…and Grace told me about her Christmas Eve.”_

_“I was wondering when that would come up.”_

_“What are your thoughts about that?”_

_A sigh._

_“She was so quiet the next morning with us, and she was cranky at random times the next few days. That particular fight hit her hard. I think she blames herself for Rachel leaving a little bit.”_

_“I’m sure your false start didn’t help.”_

_A chuckle._

_“Ah, no.”_

_“I’m sorry.”_

_“Hey, we’re all better now. Rachel included.”_

_“I have to say, I’m very impressed how you keep defending Rachel through everything.”_

_A pause._

_“She’s still my children’s mother. That’s important, and I don’t want to… I don’t want to speak badly about her in front of them.”_

_“How do you really feel, then?”_

_“She’s gotten better.”_

_A grin._

_“Right.”_

_A note on a pad._

_An awkward bit of silence._

_“Well, Grace also told me about redecorating your bedroom.”_

_A laugh._

_“How did you really feel about that, Commander?”_

_Another grin._

__~~~ ****

**November**

****~~~

The night after Steve got his new bedroom was a bit awkward. He wasn’t sure where everything was, and it was very obvious that Danny was staying in the room too. They were both very aware of the implication, now more than ever. Steve saw the touches Danny added to the room, the lack of Hawaii paraphernalia, save a painting of the ocean Steve adored in a North Shore art gallery once, and the plant in the corner. Danny’s toothbrush was in the bathroom, along with his razor and his cologne. His clothes were already in the dresser drawers, but opening them all looking for something to sleep in; he came across Danny’s things too. Danny had hung up his dress pants in the closet next to Steve’s blazers.

It felt very domestic. 

That was the problem.

They moved around each other like Danny was unsure if he was allowed to be in there, and Steve was unsure of how to let him know ‘of course it’s okay, of course you can stay in here, in my bed, like you already have for the last month.’ 

“This all was really nice of you,” Steve told him as Danny was brushing his teeth, voice low as not to disturb Jack. He wasn’t adjusting to the new room as well as his foster dad was, and was fighting sleep. He had finally fell into a light sleep about ten minutes ago. Steve wondered if he could sense the awkwardness in the room.

Danny stopped, mouth full of toothpaste, but still smiled at him. “Goud,” He said. Steve grinned.

“This furniture had to be a bit on the expensive side.”

“Naught rheally,” He said, tooth brush still in his mouth.

“Don’t lie to stop the argument,” Steve said with a chuckle. “2015 has been an expensive year! For both of us. You didn’t have to do this.”

He heard Danny spit before, “I know. But I wanted to. You gave me and my children a roof. And with Jack sleeping through the night and ready to leave the room, it really works out better, don’t you think?”

Steve had to admit, the situation without the room cleared out had started to feel a bit crowded. He felt the relief in the house already. But it was like Danny was planning on sticking around a bit longer than the three months the repair men had quoted him. It made Steve a bit apprehensive, just how much of this he should get used to, and how much he should start preparing to be let down.

The heartbreak of another person leaving him.

“You did a really good job of making it not feel like my dad’s room. It’s like it’s a whole new room.”

“New paint, new furniture, and the windows open for a few days to air it out really does wonders, doesn’t it?” Danny asked, like it was so simple to achieve what had to of been a huge, back breaking job. Danny pulled back the covers of his side of the bed and Steve breathed a sigh of relief that he was staying, and pulled back his own side. They scooted closer together because of the size and Steve chuckled at it, and Danny smiled, understanding that they both weren’t used to the bigger bed, but neither of them said anything.  
He was really going to have to accept that he had feelings for his partner one of these days. He was starting to get fed up with himself about it; he already knew everyone else was. Grace was a blaring beacon in his mind whenever he thought about it.

“Really, it’s like the guitar all over again,” He told him. Danny had even brought the guitar down from his room, sitting against the wall next to Jack’s crib. He played it sometimes when Jack had trouble sleeping.

~~~ __

_“Oh that’s so sweet.”_

_“Uh-huh.”_

__~~~ ****

**Almost every night after they spent a significant amount of time on a case and Jack missed them, but specifically the first time it happened**

****~~~

Soft chords echoed through the house and Danny smiled at the sound from his place on the couch. This was the first time he had heard Steve play. He knew Steve was playing since he bought him the guitar, happy his gift was getting some use and his friend was exploring that side of himself again. He knew because Steve complained about the tips of his fingers for weeks afterward. 

After a moment, he recognized the tune… a soft, slow version of Bon Jovi’s ‘Blaze of Glory.’ Danny laughed at the ridiculousness. He stood and made his way up the stairs to investigate.

There Steve sat on the edge of the bed, guitar in his arms, strumming along. Danny stood at the doorway, Steve not quite noticing him yet, his eyes all on Jack, humming softly and slowly along to the melody. 

Melissa was right… When he sat down with her to have the break up talk, with the reasons he swore up and down were real all lined up, she countered, asking if there was someone else. He swore there wasn’t. That this was about their ages, about them both needing something a bit different, about never quite being able to line up their schedules, and how they didn’t quite fit in with each other’s friends; his settled and hers very young.

Steve was humming one of his favorite songs softly to a baby Danny was falling in love with a little bit more each day. Danny had melted at the sight. The gift Danny had given him, being played so beautifully, to a child they were both crazy about. It was a memorable sight.

Melissa was right.

There was someone else.

Steve noticed him then; his fingers stumbled for a chord before finding it again. Danny smiled at him, and Steve smiled back at him.

“I learned this song for you, you know,” Steve whispered over the guitar. “To thank you for the guitar.”

“I like this concert,” Danny told him in a matching whisper. “Though I never imagined this song as a lullaby.”

Steve smiled wide again.

~~~ __

_“It was a bit of a thing for Jack after that.”_

_“That sounds like a sweet moment.”_

_A shrug._

_“It was only the moment I realized that I kind of wanted something different out of our relationship.”_

_Handholding. Again._

_“But finish what you were saying about the room, babe. Sorry.”_

__~~~

“Really, it’s like the guitar all over again,” He told him. “I don’t really know what to say.”

“Just say you like it, ya’ know? Move the furniture around a bit if you want, but… just… just say you like it,” Danny said. 

Steve laid himself down on his new pillow, head turned to watch Danny snuggle down into the new mattress. The thought hit Steve that Danny bought this, so he knew what it was like, and bought what he liked. This bed was Danny’s choice and in Steve’s room. That made it _their_ bed. 

“That’s all I need.”

“I love it, Danny.”

Danny smiled. Steve’s heart soared. It was the truth. He was sure he was never going to get up the nerve to go through his father’s things and Danny had figured that out long ago. Sometime around the time they were going through his father’s desk. Steve needed to clean the crime scene and Danny had shown up in the middle of a complete breakdown, even if he couldn’t recognize it for what it was back then. Or maybe he could; Steve stood surrounded by his father’s desk room torn up and strewn everywhere. He stayed and helped him go through it all, and cleaned the blood when Steve had to step away, blaming the break on a food run.

He had done the same thing with this room. Cleaned it out, made it new. Made it something Steve could live in. Danny was always doing that. He had done it with all of Hawaii. He’d take places that were heavy in Steve’s memories, saturated with thoughts of his father, cleaned them out and made them new, made Steve fall in love with his home all over again. Danny had made Hawaii home for him again.

He really needed to admit there were feelings involved that were a little more than friendship already. It would make moments like this so much easier. Being able to reach out like he wanted, to nuzzle his face on Danny’s arm.

_‘Screw it,’_ He thought. He figured it was a special occasion.

“Seriously,” He turned on his side and nuzzled Danny’s arm. “I don’t even know how to thank you for everything you’ve done for me lately.”

Danny reached up and ran his fingers through the hair on the back of his neck. Heat exploded through Steve at the touch and his breath caught in his throat. He would later blame the moment making him emotional.

“You… you got me through everything with Charlie, and… and everything with Matty, and Columbia.” He turned his head towards him, but turning over away from him a little. Steve’s arm snaked around Danny’s waist and Danny leaned back into him further. Steve’s face nuzzling went from shoulder to back easier than breathing. Especially now, how it kept getting caught up in his throat. “I think this was all way overdue, and still not enough.” 

Steve held him tighter, and Danny turned his head back around, and they fell asleep like that. Bodies close, arms wrapped around the other, Steve finally letting a single thought settle deep inside him, like it was code being written for a base program.

He wanted this.

~~~ __

_“Of course, Aunt Deb passed away soon after that and I was distracted with that.”_

_More handholding._

_“You could say it was the moment I knew I wanted more out of our relationship too.”_

_A smile._

_A sweet silence._

_“Okay. I have got to know now. Danny almost died.”_

_A laugh._

_“…but… we really need to talk about Nahele.”_

_Another laugh._

_“Not Charlie? He’s the only one we really haven’t talked about.”_

_“Charlie seems very well adjusted. Children at that age usually go with the flow easily. They adjust quick. He is worried when his mother and sister fight, but that’s expected.”_

_“Yeah, Grace has said that before. That she tries to not get loud with Rachel when Charlie is around.”_

_A bite of the lip._

_“I think that’s a bit leftover from the divorce, unfortunately. I always tried to be gentle with her after seeing her get so upset when Rachel and I fought.”_

_A smile._

_“I think that’s wonderful. …and part of the reason why she’s so good with Charlie through it all. …and why she was so adamant the two of you ended up together.”_

_“What do you mean?”_

_“She was looking for some kind of stability, and she looked at you two and saw her best bet.”_

_A beat._

_A realization._

_“But Nahele.”_

_“Okay, what about him?”_

_“He’s finally starting to open up with me, about serious things. Emotional things. He gets anxious a lot, I've noticed."_

_"So have we."_

_"Grace has no problem talking with me.”_

_A nod._

_“She’s seen several different therapists. After she was kidnapped a few years back, she saw a trauma specialist for several months.”_

_“I saw on her paperwork, that was a smart move by you and Rachel. But Nahele has never had that.”_

_“Do you think he does?”_

_“…I think he needs the two of you.”_

_A pause._

_“He really has a need to impress the two of you, you especially, Commander.”_

_“We're aware of that. He tries so hard sometimes that I want to sit him down and tell him to rebel a bit, ya’ know? Be a kid, enjoy video games and beg for the motorcycle we know he wants.”_

_“Motorcycle?”_

_“Our friend Chin Ho is a bike-guy. Nahele is a big fan of hanging out with Chin.”_

__~~~ ****

**Sometime early in March back before Danny almost died**

****

Steve was actually allowing his son to get on a motorcycle. It was a dirt bike, but it was still nerve racking. He kept telling himself that Chin would make sure the boy learned everything correctly; he even made him rent more protective equipment than even the bike rental place required.

But he and Danny promised if he got straight A’s (and B’s, but he got straight A’s) on his midterm report card they’d take him out on the dirt bikes. (He’d gone a bit ga-ga about bikes after Chin invited him over to take a part, clean, and put back together one of his older bikes. He was excited about them ever since and even bought a couple bike-themed magazines on his own. Steve eyed them with apprehension, but was glad to see him so invested in a hobby.) 

Another girl had gone missing on the North Shore at the end of February – this time without a dog attack – and with Kyla Smith’s case coming up empty, they all worked double time. They never found the girl, but knew whoever was taking girls on the North Shore was getting smarter, braver, and with their close call with Kyla, changed up the grunt men. Two of the guys Steve saw that day had shown up dead. That was three cases almost in a row that Five-0 hadn’t solved. It was getting tough.

Chin was excited about a dirt bike expedition with his foster nephew though; excited about the bit of fun he was going to have. Steve knew that Chin was using it as a calming tool whenever the case started to get to him. Danny was dreading it. Steve was excited about it at first too, throwing Chin eager looks over Danny’s head at headquarters whenever Chin brought it up. Now, seeing Nahele getting a one on one lesson from an expert while sitting on an actual bike, excitement levels had dropped to exactly zero.

“Are you dreading it yet?” Danny asked him while they were changing into their own rented gear. 

“Yes,” Steve admitted. “What if he falls? What if he hurts himself? What if this was a terrible idea and something bad happens? What if he hits a rock and goes flying and his helmet fails and-”

“Whoa whoa whoa,” Danny stopped him. “No, we’ve had this discussion. I am the pessimistic parent. You are the fun parent. Don’t mess it up our balance. Because if you’re freaked out and I’m freaked out, who is flying this plane?”

“Where did the plane come from?”

“It’s… it’s a… It’s a thing! That people say!” 

“I have literally never heard that saying before.”

“Yes you have,” Danny threw his hands around, the arms of his jumpsuit flying around and mimicking him around his waist. “You know how in a movie there’s two characters doing something in a plane and they are like ‘if you’re here and I’m here then who’s flying the plane?’”

“Yeah, of course, Danny. I have been watching movies for most of my life.”

“Well if you’d paid attention a little bit more, you’d understand what it meant!”

“What are you talking about? I pay attention to lots of things!”

“No you don’t, you’re completely oblivious to lots of things. Like how we were dating for a long time before we realized we were.”

Steve hesitated for a couple beats, not knowing if they were ready to talk about all that like this, like them not being together was just another fact of their lives, just yet. One look at Danny – with a challenge written all over his face – Steve rose to the challenge.

“Hey, you were in the same boat as me.” Steve pointed at him, getting up into his space. “Or. Well. Plane.”

Danny took a couple beats this time, then he chuckled. “Now you’re getting it. It just means one of us needs to have a level head. If it’s about one of our kids doing something dangerous, it sure is hell isn’t going to be me.”

_‘He said ‘our kids,’’_ His heart screamed at him. He did his best to ignore it. That’s not…

That’s a path he wasn’t letting himself walk down.

“I don’t know. This is the first time Nahele’s done something this dangerous while I’ve been his foster-dad. I’m going to be a wreck with every hill he goes down.”

Danny grinned at him. “Welcome to fatherhood. It’s terrifying here.”

Steve rolled his eyes, but it was nice to be back in the swing of things with Danny. Even if his feelings for the man were coming back tenfold. Danny had sworn he wasn’t giving up, wasn’t going anywhere, wasn’t going to leave him, and he had kept his vow. With every silly face he made at Jack, with every game of catch with Nahele, with every family dinner with Grace and Charlie, with every night that he rolled into their bed (and it was always going to be _their_ bed) the feelings showed up. They flared in Steve’s face, ate at all the reasons he had put a stop to things between them, and made him want to give it up so badly.

“You can do this,” Danny told him. “And so can he.”

~~~ __

_“How’d it go?”_

_“He’s a natural, unfortunately.”_

_A laugh._

_“We’ve been out a few more times since, and he’s been eyeing an old bike of Chin’s ever since he learned that Chin was thinking about selling it.”_

_“Oh goodness, how are you going to handle that?”_

_“I’m not quite sure yet.”_

_“We’ll figure it out.”_

_“You really think he’s good with us?”_

_“Definitely. But… it’s not up to me. That’s up to the court. That is… if you end up deciding to fight for him-“_

_“We have.” An interruption. “If Nahele wants us to.”_

_A pause. A smile._

_“Good. I’ll write you a recommendation, if you want it.”_

_“Yeah, that’d be great!”_

_“Have you talked to him about this change of mind yet?”_

_“Not yet. We figured we’d let him worry about this last summer tournament with baseball, he’s been so anxious about it. Then we’re going to bring it up.”_

_“Good.”_

_A check of a watch._

_A sigh._

_“Next time you have got to tell me all about when you almost died.”_

_A laugh._

_“Deal.”_

__~~~ ****

**Present day**

****~~~

Steve walked out of the doctor’s office clear headed and confidant for the first time since they started going. It was nice hearing Danny’s side of things they’ve gone through together, hearing how he fell in love with him. It made him almost giddy hearing those things. He practically bounced to the car.

It also made him so incredibly happy to hear everything with the kids was going as expected. Or… better than expected, sounds like. 

“That went well,” Danny said, getting into the car. “I think the half hour sessions are better than the hour lon-“

Steve cut him off with an unexpected kiss. He had grabbed him by the face and pulled him towards him, deep as he could make it with a car console between them and still in a public parking lot.

Danny ended the kiss with a hum and Steve smiled; he always loved it when Danny did that.

“What…” Steve kissed him again, just because he could. “What was that for? Not that I’m complaining.” Danny leaned in this time, his a steady kiss. 

Steve held their faces close. “Thank you for not giving up on me.”

Danny smiled.

“How could I?”

Steve looked down, biting his lip. Ever since… well, their fall into what they are now, Danny would say the most flattering things sometimes. Things that would make Steve so… warm. They bickered like they always had, with quick jabs back and forth. Outlandish arguments about nothing were truly the base of their relationship and the two of them owned up to it often. They were a challenge and a pleasure at the same time, like it always was in the middle of those arguments. It was nice reminder that nothing had really changed between them. Sometimes though, sometimes they’d both get sentimental and sweet and say soft things to one another. It was nice reminder that things really have changed between them too.

“If you’re a sap and I’m a sap, who’s flying this plane?”

“Oh shut up,” And Danny sighed and shut him up with another kiss that Steve snorted into.

**~~~**

**The middle of January, back when things were jagged between them, like broken glass and Danny kept yo-yoing between wanting to patch things up between them and punching Steve in the dick**

****~~~

“What do you mean, ‘you’re in England?’” Danny asked from the passenger seat as Steve drove them to a crime scene that had sounded gruesome. 

_“My father is sick, Daniel. I needed to be here.”_

“You’ve known that man was sick for months now, Rachel. Why didn’t you tell any of us that you were going?”

_“I’m sorry,”_ She said a bit rudely. _“I didn’t realize that I needed to clear every little thing I did with my ex-husband!”_

“When you’re leaving the country and not telling your children you’re going until you’re already there and calling them, yeah, ya’ do.”

_“Well, what do you want me to about it? I’m here now, that’s not changing anytime soon.”_

“You mean you don’t know when you’re coming home?”

_“Yes Daniel, that’s what it means. Do you mind telling Grace and Charlie? The time zones are ridiculous now and I’m exhausted.”_

“Well whose fault is that?” Danny asked, angrily hanging up the phone.

“What happened?”

“She just up and left. No warning. Grace apparently doesn’t even know. Hold on.” He was already calling someone else.

He waited two rings… three… then

“Hello? Danny? Is everything okay?”

“Stan! Hey, did you know that Rachel went to England two days ago?”

_“What?”_ He sounded just as outraged as Danny felt.

~~~ ****

**A bit after that, towards the end of January**

****~~~

They were still in the car. Dealing with a drunk version of Stan was draining, to say the least. He kept thanking Danny for promising not to take Charlie away from him, and crying randomly, and once he looked up at Steve and said, _“I know you’re a SEAL and all, but I think I could last a few rounds”_ and Danny laughed. Steve only scowled at the thought.

But they were still in the car because Steve had paused at they pulled up to the house. He had turned off the car, but he pulled the keys into his lap and settled back against his seat. Danny was already halfway out the door when he noticed. 

“What?”

Steve sighed again, looking up at nothing. Danny settled back into the car and closed the door. That was his ‘we need to talk’ face.

“I stopped things between us because things were good before.”

Danny bit his lip. So they were having this conversation tonight, in the middle of a hard case. Cases were always hard when they were fighting like this. Off-kilter and ready to fall apart. Danny didn’t like it, the rest of the team was off because of it, and Steve was every bit the benevolent dictator he thought he was. (Usually, he was a teddy bear, full of fluff and none of the angry, stubborn, brash leader he had been for weeks.) It sucked.

Steve had more to say, “But things are worse than they’ve ever been between us.”

“Things were good,” Danny said, angry. “But you stopped it.”

He rested his head against the headrest in a flop and blew air out in a controlled motion. “I know. But it can’t be like this anymore, Danny. It can’t. It’s affecting our job, and if it’s affecting our job, it’s affecting our team, and it’s affecting the kids, and we can’t be like this.”

“Then tell me again why you stopped it. Tell me why… why when we- when things were getting _really good_ you stopped it.” Danny pleaded. 

“For the kids.”

“We’ve already established that we’re better at the parent thing together, so it’s not really that. That’s just what you’re telling yourself.”

“No. No it’s not. We… they…” A huff. “Something’s going to happen, Danny. I’m going to get deployed and the worst will happen or you’re going to go back to New Jersey because it would be easier with Rachel going off the deep end and easier for Stan because of his trips to New York all the time. Or we’re going to get fed up with each other, or realize that whatever is between us isn’t going to last, and then all of this,” He motioned up towards the house, towards the kids, “…all of this is gone.”

Danny blinked in confusion. He opened his mouth to respond, but Steve kept going.

“I can’t handle that, I really can’t. I can’t even stand the thought of it. I can’t go through losing someone I love again. And Danny I know we say we love each other all the time, but this… this thing… it could mean… more. Actual, romantic love and I would fall so…” He stopped and bit his lip and looked down, like he realized he was looking at Danny with so much longing because it was like it left his body and filled the car air around them. “And I can’t put my boys through that. They already have so much uncertainty in their lives. I can’t add another thing they don’t have control over.”

He stopped, resting again. His spiel caused him to tense up, barely looking at Danny through the whole thing, but his face was scared and broken and Danny finally knew what this was. This was all Steve. Steve and his abandonment issues and his need to be in control. Danny knew what this was, and it was like the first ping on the lock that Steve had made sure was firmly in place clicked open again.

It felt like he finally knew where they were going again.

He eyed Steve, “You once told me to take a chance. A building had fallen on us, and I was spilling my guts about how I hate that so many things are uncertain and out of my hands, and you told me to take a chance. That I had to change. I was trying really hard to do that, and I think you just picked up everything I was trying to get rid of.”

“Danny…”

“No. You had your moment, let me have mine.”

Steve swallowed loudly, but this was the first real time he looked at him since this all started. It was all quick glances, and lowering of gazes, and looking away when Danny noticed he was staring. This, though, this was an ache and desire for something and Danny took that as a good sign.

“I’m not going anywhere. I don’t want to leave Hawaii. I don’t want to leave you. Even if we never fall in together, I don’t want to leave you. You are too important to me.” He bit his lip again, his mind suddenly on his last conversation with Catherine. “And I know that wanting something isn’t the same as what’s going to happen, but… as long as I am alive and able, I’m going to fight to stay here. I’m going to fight to be with you.”

Steve looked up again at that, “What if it never happens? Are you going to spend the rest of your life single because you’re waiting on me?”

“If that’s what it takes.” He meant it. Steve’s eyes widened with wonder and his eyebrows went up. He knew now, why Steve was doing this. It was everything he was trying to wheedle out of Steve for as long as he’d known him. Like a stubborn piece of wood, and Danny was the sandpaper. 

They were more alike than anyone thought. They were both scared of the same things, felt the same things about uncertainty, they only went about it differently. They both hated when things were out of their control, and well, they had been driving this proverbial car without going anywhere for four long weeks. Steve was behind the wheel without any gas, and Danny was all fuel with no direction. They worked well together.

Danny waited for Steve to respond patiently, because he knew that’s what it was going to take. A whole lot of patience. Danny was not a patient man, but he was going to force himself to be. For this, for him. Steve was too important to him not to be patient.

“And what if I find someone else?”

As much as the mere thought of Steve being with someone else stabbed him in the gut (and he knew, from actual experience, what that felt like) he also knew it was ridiculous.

“You won’t.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because I know you. And even if you found someone else,” Danny hated how his voice cracked, but pushed forward anyway, “You’ll be right back here, having the same reservations about them, because that’s who you are. But I will still be there having something they won’t have.”

“What’s that?”

“I have been here the whole time, I know you inside and out, and, as long as it is within my power, I am not going anywhere.” He was going to repeat that phrase until it got through Steve’s thick skull. He’d say it every day, twice a day, ten times a day, every hour on the hour, if that’s what it took. He could feel the conviction settle comfortably in his bones.

When Danny Williams decided to do something, he was zero to sixty involved and committed. 

He and Steve had so much more in common that he thought. 

He and Melissa both had baggage, but fundamentally, she had duffle bags and Danny had trunks. It just wasn’t the same. Steve had trunks, just like Danny and they blended together until he couldn’t tell them apart and they both knew what was in each and every one of those trunks. 

He and Gabby had a couch that was comfortable and warm, but they wanted it to be in two different places. Steve and Danny’s couch was content where it was. This was Steve’s home, and it had become Danny’s a long time ago, Gabby had even sensed that. 

He and Rachel was a smooth boat ride that got caught in a storm and the boat would have sunk no matter what they did. He had already survived a sinking boat (excuse him, “dingy”) with Steve, they would get through this current, perilous situation in their little boat too.

(Danny smiled at all the silly metaphors his mind was supplying him with. He blamed Grace’s English homework. That’s what they were working on this week. Nahele had it down; he’d point them out whenever someone said one out loud to help her out, even when it was on TV. She’d groan at him that he was too smart calling him a _“know-it-all”_ and to stop rubbing it in. He’d argue he was only trying to help, _“sorry for caring.”_ They really were becoming brother and sister.  
All the more reason to fight for this.)

“We are raising four kids together, Steve, romantic relationship or not, that’s not going to change,” Danny continued. “Your kids are my kids and my kids are your kids because they are our kids. They have been for so long, and longer than either of us realized. And it may have just been Grace at first, but it’s always been true.”

Steve looked up at Danny with the first sign of relief shining back at him for the first time in a month.

“I’m not angry with you anymore, Steve. I’m not. I can’t be. Not about this.” Danny reached a brave hand out, cupping the side of Steve’s face. Steve closed his eyes for a moment, leaning into the touch. Danny felt even more certain about where they were headed. “I need you to be sure, as sure as I am right now. And that’s going to take time, and I am happy to wait and I am going help you through it. I am not going anywhere.”

~~~ ****

**Groundhog’s Day. The date, not the movie.**

****~~~

It was the Tuesday after Danny declared he wasn’t going anywhere and all the anger that Steve felt radiating off of his friend had dissipated like the summer heat after a storm. It was Tuesday and that meant a perfect storm of ‘off-duty,’ baseball, cheer, Stan’s night, and Mommy Time ™ classes. For some reason, Danny wanted to drive the truck, grabbing the keys off the hook before Steve even headed out. That meant Steve was Mommy Time™-ing alone, and then setting off to pick up Grace after practice.

Danny had always been invested in Nahele’s baseball, and they always traded off Mommy Time™ classes, sometimes they went together, but today was… different.  
He had Jack eating a snack in the high chair and Grace (fresh from a cool-down swim with Steve and Jack) ignoring her homework to excitedly watch out the front window. Whatever was different about today, Grace was in on it, and if Grace was in on it then Steve was certainly already in over his head.

After about thirty minutes of when Danny and Nahele should have been home, combined with Grace’s inability to focus on her work, Steve began to get worried.

After an hour, that worry was very real and it meant calling Danny in a bit of a panic.

“Where are you?”

_“Nahele’s helping me with something.”_ He sounded smug. _“Why, were you worried?”_

“After an hour after you were supposed to be home with no word? Yeah.”

_“I’ve been texting Grace, like, all day. She could’ve told you.”_

Danny pulled up in front of the house in reverse, which would make getting out of a morning easier, Steve had to admit, but the pile of stuff in the back of his truck made him grab Jack and head outside, Grace not far behind him. There was a grey-wood dresser, a couple chairs, several, several boxes, and a full length mirror the same color as the dresser wrapped up in a blue, white, and gold (the school colors of The College of New Jersey, apparently) afghan blanket.

“What’s all this?”

Danny dropped himself out of the truck, making a silly face at Jack in Steve’s arms, “Oh, all this? I’m moving in.”

Steve blanched. “What?”

“I’m moving in.” 

“I got that, but…” He sputtered for a moment. “Haven’t you already?”

“Steve, Steven, babe,” And that had been the first time that nick name had come out for _weeks,_ and Steve hated how much he ached at it. “I may have lived here, my children may have moved in, but Steve… the only things of mine in that house are clothes, a couple hair products, a phone charger, and a slow cooker! I’m moving in.” He lowered the tailgate. “And you’re helping. Nahele helped me load, you’re helping me unload.”

Steve’s mouth flapped open a bit; he was unable to process what was happening. What was happening? Why was Grace taking Jack? Why was he unloading a bureau off the back of his truck? Why was he taking his perfectly nice television upstairs to the kid’s landing? Why was he bringing in box after box? Why was he doing all of this without understanding why?

Danny’s bureau fit under the window where Jack’s crib used to be, his guitar on its stand sitting on top. His gray-blue ( _“It’s purple, Danny.” “No it’s not, get your eyes checked.” “It’s purple! Grace! Hey Grace, come here.” “What?” “What color is this chair?” “…dull… blue-ish?” “Thank you, Monkey.”_ ) chair fit against the wall, it’s twin in the corner by the desk, and his mirror sat in front of the plant in the corner like it was meant to be there, all grey and matching the scheme and everything. 

Pictures and children’s art went up on shelves all over the house, but several of them went into the room, on Steve’s shelves, the ones Deb bought him, the ones that he really hadn’t added anything to. Danny’s Peyton-autographed ball and its little special stand went on the shelf next to Steve’s ship models. His television (nicer and bigger than Steve’s) was set up in the living room. DVDs were thrown in the cabinet with Steve’s. There was a bench Steve didn’t bring in, long and narrow, the same gray-wood, that sat at the foot of the bed that apparently held Danny’s shoes under its hatch top. He invited Steve to add some of his shoes, and so his dress shoes and tennis shoes and several casual shoes joined Danny’s. There was a picture of Grace and Charlie on his nightstand. A couple watches and cufflinks on the shelf in the closet next to Steve’s. Danny’s police uniform hung, pristine and pressed, next to Steve’s Naval dress uniform.

Danny’s blue and gold afghan, the one his grandmother had crocheted him when he went off to college, laid on the foot of their bed, the gold gave the room much needed color.  
It took all evening, but Danny finally moved in.

“Why are you doing this?” Steve asked, overwhelmed. 

“It’s my stuff,” Danny shrugged as he hung an artist’s rendition of the New Jersey skyline on one of the walls that Steve had to admit was really well done, so he didn’t argue about it. “Stuff is important, Steve. Everything else Mary and Eric are just renting and they are cool with me taking anything else if I’ve left something, and don’t even ask me how that situation is working, but it is, so I’m not complaining.”

(They had all expected Eric to move out of Danny’s house at the insistence from Mary that she and Eric had worked something out. It just turned out that they were going to be roommates and Eric didn’t mind if one of his roommates was a five year old and they shared rent and Danny stopped questioning it after he got their first rent check, in full, on the first of February.)

Steve was overwhelmed, to say the least. Danny had spent the last month sleeping on the couch, and here he was moving around their room like he hadn’t. Like he and Steve had made up already and it made Steve both content and apprehensive. He was unyielding when it came to the two of them; he may have wanted it desperately, but it wasn’t going to happen.

He thought he had made that very clear. He had even started planning moving Nahele into the boy’s room, creating space for Danny upstairs. Two bachelors sharing a space and helping each other with their kids… but there was Danny going through the drawers in his bureau after everyone had settled for the night like he was spring cleaning.

“Here’s a bunch of old undershirts you and Nahele could use as grease rags,” He offered a trash bag full of them.

“Why are you doing this?” Steve asked again, pain in his voice. “Why are you doing this to me?”

“‘To you?’”

“Yeah! I thought… I thought…”

“That I’d leave?” Danny asked, serious. He stood up and threw his shoulders back, like he was bracing for whatever Steve threw at him.

“…yes,” Steve admitted.

“Well, I’m not,” Danny told him, looking him straight in the eyes. Steve swallowed hard. “And I’m tired of the couch, so I’d really like to sleep in our bed again, if you don’t mind.”

“Danny…”

“It’s up to you, but my back would like you to take it into consideration.”

Steve rolled his eyes and found his resolve. “We can’t do this.”

“I know, we’re in a time out, but I’m buffing up my offence here,” Danny said. 

“We’re not on a time out, Danny, the game is over!”

Danny blinked at that, took a deep breath, and dived back in, “The game might be over, but the season is just starting. And after the season is over, there’s another season, and another after that, like clockwork, always there.” Steve opened his mouth to counter again, but Danny beat him to it. “And you know it.”

Steve sat on the bed, lowering his head into his hands, “That’s why this hurts. You think we’re still playing, but we’re not.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” Danny said again. “I thought this would be a good way to start proving that to you.”

“Yeah, but-” 

“These are my things, Steve, they… they are in a place where your things are. Together. And I get it, you aren’t ready, and I will wait as long as it takes, but look around, Steve! This is our room! This is our house! These are our kids!” His voice was raised, but in a whisper so as to not echo upstairs, full of conviction and emotion and hand waving and all Steve could do was sit and listen. “I didn’t fight hard enough for my family with Rachel, and thank god I didn’t, because don’t you dare think I’m not going down swinging for this one.”

Steve was looking up at him with reverence, with heartbreak, and with longing. He felt like he was going to throw up and burrow down for winter and run for the hills all at once at the thought of it all.

“You take your time,” Danny nodded. “You figure yourself out, because you’ve been hurt before and you need the time and I get it so take it. I mean that. I mean it with everything I am. Because I’m not going anywhere. But we… In the meantime we can’t be this… broken… mess of a friendship. Because I miss you,” Danny’s voice cracked, and Steve’s breath caught. He agreed. “I miss you. You… You think you’re being noble but we’re both walking around with a broken heart. The only thing, I promise you, the only thing that will be able to put it back together is you saying yes to all of this.”

Danny took a moment to calm down.

“I know you want this, Steve, I felt just how much you wanted it, just let go of everything and let yourself have it.”

Steve sniffed as Danny walked around him.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m going to brush my teeth, and then I’m going to bed, on the couch until you tell me otherwise, and finish going through everything tomorrow.”

“That’s it? After everything you just said?”

Danny looked back at him with hesitation, leaning against the door to the bathroom, biting his lip.

“Yes. I’m brushing my teeth and then we are going to sleep. Because you need time and I’m ready but I’m going to wait for as long as it takes.”

~~~ ****

**Present Day**

****~~~

“If you’re a sap and I’m a sap, who’s flying this plane?”

“Oh shut up,” And Danny sighed and shut him up with another kiss that Steve snorted into. They kissed for a moment, warmth spreading all through Steve. He loved this man, he really did. He was patient and opinionated and quick to pessimism and he was an anxious ball of nerves and he adored their children and he kissed Steve like he didn’t have plans to be anywhere else.

He thought redoing the bedroom and the time spent helping him with his head first dive into deep end that was fatherhood was something he never thought he’d be able to repay. This, though, what Danny did for what they have now, sticking with him even though he was being an ass about everything, was something Steve would never stop being thankful for.

“Thank you for not giving up on me,” He said again with a kiss, breathless.

~~~


	10. Chapter Nine

“I don’t actually understand what we’re doing,” She told her father.

He and Steve paused after setting the couch down. “We’re setting up the living room for Grandma and Grandpa’s date; you need to copy the sign on the picture I gave you onto the chalkboard. Grandpa’s flight is going to be here in three hours, and we’ve got to go back to work soon.”

~~~ ****

**A few years back, when her grandparents were going to get a divorce and her father said “not if I have anything to say about it” and succeeded because he’s stubborn and a romantic at heart, just like his daughter**

****~~~

“I know all that. But what are we trying to achieve?” Steve smirked, probably her vocabulary more than anything. She may look little, but she really was eleven, you know. “They are getting a divorce.”

“Not if I have anything to say about it,” He said, a bit under her breath, unplugging the lamp from the wall.

“But what is all this.”

“The stuff your Aunts sent.”

“You know what I mean.”

“Phase Three,” He said after a sigh. “Remind them why they fell in love in the first place.”

“What?”

“Phase One: Get Grandpa to Hawaii. Phase Two: Make sure Grandma is feeling really good about herself. We’re on Phase Three right now.”

“I don’t get it,” She whined again. “Sometimes people just break up!”

He stopped, looking at her intently. She looked over at Steve who had his arms crossed and biting his lip, like it wasn’t his place to say anything.

Danno then walked over and lowered himself to her level. “Sometimes they do. That’s true. Sometimes that’s what’s best. But it’s something that should be talked about first. They need to make sure this is what they want to do, and what’s best for everyone, and sometimes you gotta fight for it. I’m going to remind them of their first date, why they got married in the first place so they can talk about what they need to talk about, and hopefully want to start all over again. We’re Parent Trapping.”

“Parent Trapping?”

“Have…” He blanked out. “Have you never seen that movie?” He blew out a whistle, “That was one of Eric’s favorites growing up; I probably saw it three dozen times. Though, he wouldn’t admit that now. We’ll watch it later, doesn’t matter. Basically, we’re trying to get them in the same room alone, everything taken care of, so they’ll talk to each other. They just haven’t been able to seem to do that lately. ”

“Oh,” Grace said, biting her lip. “Okay. What’s Phase Four?”

“If we play our cards right, we’ll only need three phases.”

~~~

_“So you got the idea from your father.”_

_A conspiratorial grin. A nod._

_“Oh goodness, so what were your phases with your dads?”_

_“Phase One: Get Danno to spend more time with Steve. Phase Two: Make Steve feel like Danno cared. And Phase Three… well. Danno had a hand in Phase Three.”_

_“Really?”_

_Another nod._

~~~ ****

**Early February, like, maybe the 1st? Maybe?**

****~~~

Grace was sitting at the dining room table, Danno across from her holding her flash cards. Who knew the PSAT had so many vocab words? She certainly didn’t, and she was getting frustrated. Of the hundred words she had to learn, she had maybe half of them down.

She sat back with a huff when Danno sat the last “I don’t know” card down in its pile, with about fifty other cards. Her eyes watered and she moved to wipe at them, then she laid her head down on the table with a huff. Her father leaned over, rubbing her back in the soothing way that always seemed to help.

“I know you’ve had a tough year this year,” He started. “Ya’ know.. With… with everything with Charlie, and everything with your mom, and moving houses, and dealing with foster-brothers, and me and Uncle Steve… but you’re smart. You’re going to get through this year, and you can do this.” He smacked the flash cards down on the table. She sat back up. “Look at all the words you know, no problem. That’s half the pile! You’re halfway there with four days, and you still have two weeks until the test. ”

She sniffed, staring down at the pile of words she still didn’t know. Why couldn’t all school be athletics and computer skills? Next year she had to start taking a language and that was going to be absolutely dreadful.

“Can we be done for the night?” She asked, voice soft.

“Yeah, I think that’s a good idea,” Danno said, gathering up the cards and shuffling them, presumably for the next night. Grace took a deep, steadying breath. “Do you have any other homework? Geometry?”

She shook her head. “We’re doing practice exams for the PSAT all week. No homework.”

“Do you need to study for that?”

“I want to see what I need to work on with the first test, so no.”

“Alright. I’ll make sure Steve doesn’t work too late this week so he’ll be free to help if you need him.” She grinned, and his face lit up. “What else are you doing in your other classes?”

“We’re reading in class in English and I caught up at lunch. We’re watching a movie in history and doing in-class labs in science.” She shrugged. “We’re learning about HTML in computer skills, but there’s never any homework in that class.” She smiled and kind of bounced. “Cheer really starts back up for real after the PSAT, and I can finally Cheer again, instead of sitting on the bleachers.”

“I want you to take it easy though, okay?” Her father worried. She rolled her eyes fondly.

“I will, Danno.”

“Okay,” He said, leaning forward, knocking the cards on the table. “Since you have no homework, and I’ve got you to myself with the boys out for groceries, I want to talk to you about something.”

Her face fell. “Uh-oh,” She said before she could stop herself.

He grinned, “You’re going to like it, I promise.” He licked his lips and bit his lip, looking nervous despite his words. She didn’t quite believe him.

Grace waited patiently. It could be a million things. About her grades being too low, about spending time with her mother, about maybe she should quit Cheer because it was too dangerous. Anxiety hit her like a crashing wave as her father tried to find his words. Charlie was sick again. They were losing Nahele and Jack. Steve was getting deployed. Something happened to one of her grandparents. He was sick. They were moving out because things with Steve had gotten too hard. They were out in the car for a long time several days ago, presumably just talking. Her mind went to a thousand horrible scenarios all at once.

She never thought he’d say

“So what Phase are you on with me and Steve?”

Pressing the reset button on her anxiety, waiting for it to respond, she asked, “What?”

“Don’t act like I haven’t noticed you trying to Parent Trap me and Steve for months. I am a detective, you know. It’s like people forget that about me all the time! It’s kind of insulting.”

Her face fell again. “Are you going to tell me to stop?”

He grinned and shook his head. “No.”

Hope flickered inside her. He kept his promise (which she had no precedence on which she should have doubted him in the first place,) she liked this very much. She sat up straighter, excited. “What?”

“I’m on board. I want to be with Steve.”

She smiled wide, squealed, bouncing in her chair. Then she quickly focused on her father. “Then what happened after New Year’s? You guys kissed at midnight with the ball dropping and Time’s Square and the confetti. I don’t know if you can get more romantic than that. But we came home and it was like you hated each other.”

He chuckled, “We didn’t hate each other,” and then he sighed. “He got scared.”

“Scared? Steve?”

He rolled his eyes. “He gets upset if there’s a gunfight he couldn’t be in. He’s right at home in a combat situation. He drives _towards_ the ocean during a tsunami warning… he’s stone when it comes to dangerous situations, but the moment feelings are brought up, he runs for the hills. It’s frustrating and he does it every time.”  
Grace took a steadying breath at that. “That’s why you were so mad at him for so long.”

A nod.

“I’m done being mad at him now. So what Phase are you on?”

She let out a huff of sadness at the thought Steve was so scared. “Three,” She admitted. Her father’s eyebrows shot up. “Two was the bedroom. I thought Three was finished at New Year’s, but nope!”

He grinned again. “Three, huh?” He let out a heavy sigh. “We’ve got to take our time with this one.” He bit his lip. “It’s the last one.”

“We could recreate how you first met?” She offered.

“Considering we pointed guns at each other when we first met and I ended up clocking him in the jaw with a right hook,” He looked off at nothing, remembering, “I don’t think we should recreate that.”

“You punched him?”

“He got me shot!”

“What?!”

“…you know, as much as I’m dreading it you getting older, I’m also enjoying being able to share more things with you.”

She grinned.

~~~

_“Does your dad talk about his work often?”_

_“Sometimes.”_

_A pause._

_“He told me, once, when I was little, after I asked him about why his day at work was so hard, he said ‘bad guys never stop, but someone’s got to catch ‘em.’ And when I asked for specifics he told me, ‘I promise, one day I will talk to you about the details, but right now, just know I’m chasing bad guys.’”_

_“And he’s keeping his promise?”_

_A nod._

_“It’s not lying. I know there are things he’s keeping from me. Things he doesn’t want me to know. But I watch enough cop shows to know that it’s probably for my own good. But every now and then he tells me something real._

_“I was kidnapped once, I don’t know if you know…”_

_“I knew.”_

_“Okay. Well, after that, I had so many questions. He answered every one of them. I did so much looking up stuff about it after that.”_

_Another pause._

_“There’s a statistic about missing kids. If they come home, the average time they are gone is about eighteen hours. I was gone for four and a half, because my dad is that good at what he does. After that I realized he does good things, but he has to deal with horrible things to do them. That was one day of my life of being terrified. He does it every day and comes home with a smile for the majority of them.”_

_A sniff._

_“And the days he doesn’t?”_

_“I hug him harder.”_

_“Have you shared this with your mother?”_

_A shake of the head._

_“I think you should.”_

_“Why?”_

_“Well, with talking to her, that’s a topic we talk about a lot. Your dads’ jobs. I think you should share with her why you’re so impressed with them. And talk about how your kidnapping contributed to that.”_

_A bit of silence._

_“You know, after her leaving, she came home and demanded she have me and Charlie for Easter?”_

_“Did she?”_

_A nod._

_“How was that?”_

_“I refused to go. She was at our house and she was fighting with me about it. That’s when Danno invited her to Easter at our house.”_

_A smile. “Did he?”_

_A nod. “It was supposed to be a compromise.”_

_“…was it not?”_

_“Mum didn’t see it that way, but she agreed to it anyway.”_

_“So, how’d that go?”_

~~~ ****

**On Easter weekend**

****~~~

“Aren’t you a little old for an Easter Egg hunt?” Her mother asked.

“Rachel…” Danno started.

“Maybe,” She replied. “But Charlie, Joan, Jack and Logan aren’t. I want to play with them.”

She turned in her dress, the skirt twirling around her. Her dress was great. It was actually part of the compromise her father had come up with. Shopping for an Easter dress with her mother. Grace didn’t mind, it gave them a goal. Dress, shoes, accessories, (hat for her mother.) A list they could concur and focus on and they could ignore everything else between them, like extraction mission in the middle of a combat zone.

They didn’t talk about anything besides shopping, but it was the first good day Grace had with her mother in a long time.  
But Easter was turning out to be a bit frustrating already.

( _“It’s not even on a Sunday,”_ Her mother had mentioned, with an aura of frustrated judgement a few days before the Easter Egg hunt. Grace wasn’t supposed to be listening, but if they didn’t want her to listen, they shouldn’t talk so loud. Snoop tendencies were genetic, after all; Danno should know better. _“I could take them on Sunday while you have your little party on Friday.”_

Grace refused that too, saying it wasn’t part of the compromise. Her mother had to concede to the agreement made weeks ago.

(‘Concede’ was vocab word number 12, thank you very much.)

 _“I may be off work because of my incident, but the kids need this after everything,”_ Danno told her. _“Nahele has a tournament the next day, and he needs that now more than ever, and it’ll be Grace’s last Cheer thing of the season, she can’t miss that. And the rest of the team goes back on duty on Sunday. Things are finally starting to get back to normal, and I’d really like for you to be a part of that normal. Please don’t argue and just let her have this.”_ )

~~~

_“‘Incident?’”_

_A blink._

_“Oh yeah! Danno almost died!”_

_“Oh goodness! Your fathers have been trying to tell me this story for the whole two weeks I’ve known you all.”_

_A giggle. “It’s a good one, I won’t spoil it. Just know that Danno hurt his leg real bad and so he couldn’t walk for a long while. He had doctor’s orders to sit around and be lazy and he milked it.”_

_“…do you ever get worried about your father? How did you handle him almost dying?”_

_“Uncle Steve and Aunt Kono were with him when he got hurt. I wasn’t worried. I’ll worry if he ever does, but I refuse to think that way. Like I said, he’s really good at his job. This case was just one of the rare… hard ones where he doesn’t come home with a smile.”_

_“That’s a very good way to think.”_

_“That’s how Uncle Steve deals with it. He told me that while Danno was in the hospital after his surgery, and I liked it.”_

_“Surgery? Oh goodness.”_

_Another giggle. “I told you it was a good one.”_

_A sigh._

_“Alright, tell me more about Easter with your mom.”_

~~~

“Maybe,” She replied. “But Charlie, Joan, Jack, and Logan aren’t. I want to play with them.”

She twirled in her dress, away from her mother.

“Rachel, please,” She heard Danno plead from his seat next to her. (Grace had a suspicion he was on Rachel-watch to quickly defuse (vocab word number 18) any bombs between her and her mother, and she was honestly thankful.) “Just enjoy the day, okay?”

Her mother sighed. “You’re right.”

Then Charlie ran up to her, basket in hand, “I’m ready!”

“I don’t know,” Steve said, walking up behind him with Joan in his arms. “Joan and I are going to give you a run for your money. Uncle Chin hid those eggs in tough places.”

“No,” Charlie replied up at Steve with a wide grin. “Grace and I are going to win!”

“Uh-uh!” Joan argued down at him. “This is _my_ Uncle Steve’s yard, he knows all the hiding places!”

“But this is _my_ yard!” Charlie countered as Steve dropped the little girl to the ground with a wide smile. He took a moment to straighten out her bright pink sundress. Watching her Uncle Steve with Joan, she never wanted a little sister more.

Oh, the dress up she and this fictional sister could play. At least she had Joan now; Grace found herself already looking forward to the afternoon once a week where they and Daisy babysat the little girl for Aunt Mary. That was the thing with living in a house with all boys. They just didn’t understand sometimes. Sometimes you wanted to sweat and get dirty rough housing and be covered in grime, sure, but sometimes you just had to smell good and do your hair up in three matching pony-tails like Jedi girls and twirl so your skirt did the thing.

 _(“What thing?”_ Nahele asked.

 _“The thing!”_ Grace insisted. _“Come on, Joan, let’s show him.”_

Joan smiled, held out her arms in a mirror to Grace’s, and together they spun in the living room, their skirts flying out around them.

 _“The thing!”_ Grace said again, smiling wide.

Nahele only looked at them like they had grown second heads. _“I….’m going to go out and work on the car.”)_

She looked over to her mother with apprehension (vocab word number 3.) They used to do things like that together. Have spa days where they’d paint their nails glittery on a whim, and Grace would sit on the floor at her feet while she braided her hair, and Grace would sit on the bathroom counter while her mother did her makeup for the day, watching her mother paint her face so discerningly. (Vocab word number 19.)

Then it became ‘glitter is too young for you, how about French Tips like a lady?’ and ‘get off the floor, you can braid your own hair now,’ and ‘Grace get off the counter!’ and Grace found herself grieving for those days from before.

Danno knew she was growing up and changed how he talked to her, what he did with her, how he treated her, wanted to know the things she liked and did. Rachel didn’t change how she did things at all, like she expected Grace to be an adult overnight, but still spoke to her like she was Charlie’s age, and thought a young lady should only do certain things and turn up their nose at the rest. She hated comparing her parents, but it was true.

She was glad she was back, sure, but still upset that they weren’t okay. They just weren’t on the same page.

Danno saw her face, she guessed, because he reached out and grabbed her hand, squeezing it. She held it tightly back, face turning back into a smile. He silently asked if she was alright, worry all over his face. She shook her head, dropped his hand, and leaned down to kiss his forehead.

“Mmm,” He approved. “Thank you.”

“That was sweet,” Steve said, pulling her towards him in a side hug. He must have noticed her face too, kissing the top of her head. “But we’re still going to win.”

“Oh, you’re on,” Grace told him seriously.

“I don’t know…” Uncle Lou said, walking up behind Danno’s chair on the lanai. “My kids are going to give all of you a run for your money.”

“Oh it’s so on,” Danny said instantly. Grace knew those were the magic words with her father. “My kids verses your kids. Losing father buys the other their beer at the next Side Street.”

“It’s a bet!”

“Alright, but if Joan and I win, you’re both buying me beers,” Steve said, nosing his way into the bet.

“Deal,” Danny said.

“Well, alright!” Lou said excitedly.

“Louis Grover!” Renee berated from behind him, some kind of bowl of something in her hands. Logan burst into the yard quickly after that, Samantha not far behind, her swimsuit on under her sundress like Grace. There were plans to go swimming later. “You’re using your children to make a bet for beer?”

“You’re damn right I am,” He said with complete conviction. (Vocab word number 13.)

The yard laughed, Kono taking the bowl from Renee, and Steve started pulling out more chairs for the late arrivals.

Nahele walked out of the house with a fresh-diapered Jack who let out a loud, happy yell to announce his arrival. Everyone turned to wave at the baby, who was smiling widely, no need for his pacifier.

Danno turned over his shoulder. “Thank you for doing that, ‘Hele.”

“I just want to be useful.”

Danno reached out with his other hand and gripped Nahele’s arm.

“You’re just on time,” Steve told him. “Teams of two, the Sixth Annual McGarrett House Easter Egg Hunt begins soon. Do you still want to do it with Jack?”

Nahele nodded, “Sure! Yeah!”

“‘Sixth Annual?’” Rachel asked. “Truly?”

Grace nodded. “Every Easter since we’ve lived here!” She told her.

“Huh,” Rachel said, a bit gob smocked.

“Easter of 2012, though…” Danno said with a tone of foreboding.

“We do not speak of the Easter of 2012!” Grace and Steve said loudly and simultaneously.

“What happened?” Kono asked.

“Oh, there was a huge sto _rm,” Steve started._

“So we did it in the house,” Danno continued.

“And we couldn’t find one of the eggs,” Grace finished. “The house stunk for a week until we found it.”

Despite the awfulness of the memory, Grace was fond of it. It was memorable. The group all laughed, all content in the shade of the lanai and umbrellas Steve and Nahele spent the morning setting up.

“Oh, that’s not why we don’t speak of it,” Danno told her.

“Oh?” She asked. “Why?”

“Steven,” Danno looked up at him, expectant.

Steve bit his lip and stared back. It was obvious he didn’t want to explain.

“Tell them.”

“Danno…” Steve pleaded.

Her breath caught in her throat, shocked. “It had been a very, long while since Uncle Steve had used her father’s nick-name. Something must have happened between them. They seemed like they were back to being the friends she knew they were, sharing old memories. She looked over at Aunt Kono, seeing the look mirrored back at her. Shock, and joy, and relief. Grace took a long, deep breath, and listened to the story with a smile on her face.

“Every time Gracie checked a nook or cranny in the house she found a weapon,” Danno betrayed him.

Steve’s face leaned back toward the sky in embarrassment. Grace knew this group; they wouldn’t let him live it down anytime soon, and Steve knew it.

“And then when I came over here to help baby proof the house for Jack, I thought, ya’ know, I thought he meant electric plug covers, not ‘I had a set of six throwing knives and I can only find five.’”

Steve made a face again, mouth open like he was fishing for words, shaking his head and the laughter of their family. “To be fair, I was a single man, living alone, fresh from military combat, and I may have been dealing with a slight case of… of… of…”

“Delayed PTSD?” Danno filled in for him, eyebrow raised, smirk on his face. Grace rolled her eyes at the fondness pouring out of her father staring up at the man he was crazy for. She was wondering if Phase Three would ever actually stick, or if it had happened while she wasn’t looking, and whether her father even cared or not. Like maybe he was crazy for him, and happy about it, even if they never got to Phase Three.

“Yes! Okay?” Steve said, defensive, crossing his arms. “Plus we found number six, we’re good.”

The group laughed at it all again, faces bight with smiles.

“Wait a minute, who found number six?” Grace asked, boasting, pointing at herself. Steve made a face at Danny like ‘she has a point,’ and Danny gave him one back that said, ‘she’s got you there,’ and everyone laughed at the jab. Grace turned and eyed Samantha, “So who, exactly, is going to find the most eggs?”

“We are!” Charlie yelled excitedly.

_~~~_

_“It wasn’t a bad day, actually.”_

_“So everything with your mom went okay?”_

_A nod._

_“I wish she’d come to more group things like that. Stan does.”_

_“What about your Cheer events, does she go to those?”_

_A shake of the head._

_“She doesn’t think I should be in Cheer. Threw a fit about it after I broke my leg. She was angry when I wanted to drop tennis to focus on Cheer. I tried to do both, but I wanted to stay in the Aloha girls too, because it helps me... well... it was all just too much.”_

~~~ ****

**Just after Rachel went on her sabbatical (vocab word number 68)**

****~~~

Grace threw her backpack and Cheer bag towards the nook beside the stairs (where shoes and backpacks and baseball stuff just kind of… gathered on hooks and on and under the bench. Uncle Steve liked a clean house, but he gave up keeping the nook organized very early on) with little care, something in her bag sounded like it cracked. She’d have to go through it later, pull out her practice clothes for the wash later, but right now she just didn’t care.

“Hey Gracie!” Daisy greeted her fondly; her pony tail bouncing in the way that Grace thought was something that was unique to Daisy. Then Daisy’s face fell when she realized something was wrong. “What happened?”

She didn’t answer, but she didn’t care. Let Danno fill her in. That’s what her mother made him do.

They had made a deal very early on, back when Grace asked to live with Danno full time, was that Rachel would pick her up after Cheer practice, and pick her up for weekend practices. Usually it was a tense twenty minutes, her mother taking the long way home.

Today though, today Grace learned that her mother just… _forgot._

She knew that Grace had broken her leg, had to sit out most practices, and so she didn’t stay past at school her final hour like the other girls did on the days of afternoon practices. Grace had learned quickly, if she wasn’t going to do anything for the extra hour on those days, there was no point in staying. Her coach was okay with that. So all of October and November, when the season was at its height, Grace never went to an afternoon practice.

But it was February. Afternoon practices were a thing that happened twice a week again. Everyone was gearing up and getting back in shape for competition season, and Grace was taking the season easy and with trepidation (vocab word number 83) to make sure her leg had healed right.

Her mother was supposed to pick her up. She had told her every time they talked on the phone for the last three weeks that practice was starting up again.

Except she didn’t show.

Her father and Uncle Steve had shown up almost twenty minutes late, pulling into the parking lot where she sat on the steps in front of the school, waiting. She stood and gathered her bags, and started down the steps, wondering what happened.

Danno got out of the car first, lip in his mouth, the look on his face so somber and confused that it scared her, and she paused on one of the last steps.

That’s how she learned her mother had up and left.

She left Grace sitting on the steps alone, clueless, and disconsolate.

(That vocab was the first word she really learned. She wrote the definition on the back of her flash card, re-read it, and realized that it was the word she was looking for since her mother left. Depressed, angry, frustrated, sad, lost, worried. They were all words that she tried out, but none of them fit.

 

> _**Disconsolate.** dis-con-s-late. (adj.)_  
>  _\- Miserable. Disappointed and unable to be cheered up._

She couldn’t finish her homework that night and curled up against her father on the couch instead.)

Grace fought the tears all the way home, and she ignored every attempt at a conversation that Danno threw her way. About halfway home, he gave up, let her have her space, and Uncle Steve turned on her favorite music station.

But now she was running up the stairs, ready to close her door and hit her pillow and wallow for a bit.

“Grace,” Her father called after her. She ignored him. She heard the front door close before her own door slammed.

They left her alone for several hours.

Nahele was the one that came in first.

“I know a bit of what it’s like to have a deadbeat parent.”

She sniffed and sat up. “I guess that’s what she is, isn’t it?”

Nahele shrugged, moving around to her dresser, leaning on it. “You okay?”

Grace sat for a moment, thinking that question over. “No.” Then. “Did they tell you what happened?”

“Yeah. Can I do anything?”

She laughed and took a chance. “My science homework?”

“Consider it done.”

Oh, how she loved her foster-brother.

“You went through this last weekend, didn’t you? At your first game? When you came home and sat on the beach all night?”

He shrugged. “A little, but I was halfway expecting it. You didn’t.”

She brought her knees up to her chin. “What if she doesn’t come back?”

“She will.”

“But what if she doesn’t?”

He made a face and shrugged again. “You’ve got Danno. And Uncle Steve.”

She scoffed. “They’re fighting about something. Who knows how long this will last.”

“Well,” He said. “In that case, you’ve got me.”

“Your dad wants you back,” She argued. “You’ll leave soon too.”

He sighed, and moved to sit on the bed with her. “You’re my best friend.”

She looked up at that, unprepared. She didn’t say anything though, waiting for him to continue.

“I need you to know that. I never thought I’d have a sister, and yet, you’ve been out there, alive in the world somewhere this whole time.” He said. “So, even if I have to go back with my dad… that doesn’t mean you stop being my sister.”

She felt the tears start again.

“So, as long as you want a big brother, you’ve got one. Even if I’m out there in the world somewhere instead of under the same roof. ‘Ohana, right?”

Grace threw her arms around his neck at that, pulling him into a hug. He turned to return it and she let herself cry a few more tears. She tried to steady herself, but found she was unable to.

There was a knock at her door, and she pulled back, one arm still around her brother, the other straight to her face, wiping at tears.

“Are you okay?” Danno asked.

She shook her head, the tears falling again. He moved into the room instantly, arms wide and around them both, holding her against him protectively. It was warm against her father’s chest, she rested her head on him, feeling the only kind of safe she only ever felt when he held her close.

“Hey, I want in,” She heard Steve say.

They all pulled back and she gave a teary laugh as Danno and her brother laughed with her. Steve gave a sweet smile and moved in and the four of them embraced in her room, a little family. She knew he and Danno weren’t doing too good, but here they were, holding her like they held Nahele only the week before. Together and for them, just because they needed it. It was comforting. The three of them like shields around her and Grace reveled in it, feeling so much better, knowing she’d have this, no matter what happened.

~~~

_“Why do I always end sessions with wet eyes?”_

_“Just lucky, I guess.”_

_“I guess.”_

_A sniff._

_“You are very lucky.”_

_A bit lip._

_“You are. I see dozens of families, Grace. All different types of families. And all sorts of kids. Kids that are going through things similar to what you are going through with your mom, and they don’t have a Danno or an Uncle Steve or a big brother. You’re very lucky to have them.”_

_“I know.”_

~~~

Her dads took off work the next day, and let her stay home from school, and they watched Die Hard together in their pajamas, and ordered pineapple pizza for lunch.

~~~


	11. Chapter Ten

~~~

_“You made my sister cry. Again.”_

_“I know, but I think it was a good crying, not a bad crying.”_

_A glare._

_“I promise, she left my office on a good note.”_

_“She better have.”_

_“She’s important to you, I can tell. You’re important to her too.”_

_A shrug. “She’s my sister.”_

_“I’ve gathered.”_

~~~ ****

**Nahele’s first actual competition tournament game**

****~~~

“Come on Kings! We can do this!” Grace cheered when Danny gave her the cue. He only let her get up and jump around and get crazy like she was doing now during pitch changes, too dangerous for the crowd that should be looking out for stray balls otherwise. He smiled as he jogged to the dugout taking off his catcher’s gear, to get ready to go, first up to bat. “Two innings to go, we got this!” She was jumping up and down from her place where all the parents had set up chairs to watch. She had brought her pom poms and wore her Cheer top. Cheer top and jeans, but it was the thought that count.

But now she was being ridiculous, doing some kind of high kick, and he adored her.

“Is that your sister?” One of the other guys, Brad Jacobs – he was older and one of the outfielders, so Nahele didn’t really spend much time with him. He nodded towards her with another one of the older boys while he put on his helmet. “She’s a hot little thing, isn’t she?”

“She’s thirteen,” Nahele threw at him, hoping to shut that interest down, picking up his bat.

He shrugged. “Even better.”

Nahele was up, dropping his bat, and shoving him against the fence of the dugout before he realized what he was doing. Several guys were holding him back, they were all loud and yelling, Jacobs coming in for his own shove but the coach was already in the middle of it by the time the umpire blew his whistle at them.

“What is going on in there coach?” The umpire asked.

“We’re good!” He called back. Then he turned back to the boys. _“We’re good!”_ He told both of them, the ‘sit down, cool off,’ evident in his voice. Both boys dropped to the fence. Looking out at the crowd, Nehele saw Steve and Danny were standing up, along with several parents, concerned with the problem in the dugout.

“Huikala, what was that?” Coach demanded.

“He said some gross things about my sister, sir,” He answered. “My little sister.”

Coach eyed Jacobs, “is this true? Were you insulting a teammate’s sister?”

The umpire called out again. “Send out a batter, coach!”

“Yeah, yeah,” He motioned at one of the other boys. “Donnelly, get out there.” Dylan hesitated, eyes on Nahele. He handed him the helmet that on his own head. Dylan took it reluctantly. It was nice to know he had a growing friendship with the guy. “Get out there! Nyuyen, get ready.” The crowd started clapping as Dylan backed out of the dugout, helmet already on, giving Nahele a warning face to cool it.

“Answer me Jacobs.”

“I was not insulting his sister.”

“I’m sure he thinks crude remarks are the opposite of insulting,” Nahele muttered.

Coach eyed the crowd, eyes found Grace, her fingers clutched on the wire of the fence trying to see something in the shadows of the dugout. Coach caught on quick, turning to Nahele. “The Cheerleader?” He asked. Nahele nodded. Coach turned on Jacobs. “Were you disrespecting that young girl?”

“I was appreciating her eagerness to cheer us on.”

“He was appreciating her age,” Nahele said, heat deep in his voice.

Coach sighed, rubbing his eyes as the umpire called Dylan’s first strike. He looked up towards the game and then back to them.

“Neither of you are going to finish this game, that’s for sure.” He pointed at Jacobs, who was already beginning his protest, “You need to learn how to treat women! We’re going to have a talk about it that you probably won’t enjoy,” Then pointed to Nahele, “But violence is not the answer! I want you both out of my dugout.”

“But Coach!” Jacobs started. “I’m up to bat!”

“Out!” He pointed towards the door that lead to the crowd.

Nahele sighed, already packing his gear as Brad stormed out, throwing his batter’s helmet against the wall in anger. Several of the boys jumped at it outburst.

“Parker, get up, get out there, take his place in the line-up,” Coach ordered again, disruption defused. As Nahele shouldered his bag Coach caught him by the arm. “Hey,” He said, pulling him towards him in a whisper. “I know that Jacobs is a hot-head, and I’m going to have this conversation with him too, but if this happens in my dugout again, you’re both going to come to a better understanding of the phrase ‘riding the bench,’ do you understand?”

Nahele grinded his teeth together, but he nodded. That was fair. He did throw the first proverbial punch.

“Next game will be at four, I’ll expect you to be there. Alright?”

“Yes, Coach.”

“For the record, it’s nice to see one of the Cheerleaders at our games,” He said.

Nahele smiled, feeling a bit lighter about it all at Coach's words. He left the dugout after that, smile on his face, heading towards Steve and Danny, walking past Jacobs and his parents, who were standing with him, probably getting a skewed version of events from their son.

“What happened?” Steve asked first.

“He was being a jerk.”

“She’s not that great anyway,” Jacobs said, voice raised, turning around towards them. “All knees and elbows.”

Nahele dropped his bag right then and turned towards him, hands in fists. The dirt blew up under his feet. He felt Steve and Danny both start to reach out for him, but he just wanted to scare him. Jacobs flinched. It had the desired result.

“Don’t make me give you a black eye this time,” He warned voice low.

Steve’s hand was on his shoulder at that, pulling him back. “Whoa whoa whoa, what was that?”

Nahele ignored him and immediately turned to Grace. “You let me know if he comes on to you, okay?”

She eyed him. “Him?” She scoffed. “He’s a junior, I’m an eighth grader!” She said, like he was out of her league.

“I know,” He said, completely serious. Her face fell, understanding.

Steve and Danny seemed to understand too, because when he turned back to them they both had their cop faces on, directed at Jacobs. Nahele turned back around to see Jacobs’ reaction. His face was complete fear, almost cowering behind his parents. The team knew full well that his fathers were Five-0, and everyone that lived on Hawaii knew what Five-0 was.

Nahele smirked at him.

_~~~_

_“An eventful day.”_

_A grin._

_“You want to know Grace’s response?”_

_“Sure.”_

_~~~_

“Let’s go get lunch,” Nahele offered. “To cool down.”

That was mostly for Steve and Danny, not him. He picked up his gear, and gave his fathers a pointed look. They picked up their folding chairs, quiet, and moving like they weren’t quite content with just letting it go. Grace picking up her pom poms and they all moved to leave the field.

Jacobs, of course, couldn’t help one, last retort. His own father was pulling an angry face from behind his son as he spat it.

“I bet it wouldn’t even be that dark of a black eye anyway.”

Grace turned around and, before any of them could stop her, she charged and threw a right hook, right in his eye. Jacobs hit the ground, and both teams’ crowds reacted instantly, a chorus of ‘oh’s and then laughter broke out around them.

“Let’s see how dark that gets,” Grace asked, standing over him, hands in fists. “Want to come on to me now?” Then she kicked the dirt towards his legs, turned around, and walked away, leaving the three of them standing in shock, Cheer ribbons in her hair bouncing as she marched off.

Nahele started laughing, and his spirts were high for the rest of the day.

Grace was a _fantastic_ Cheerleader.

_~~~_

_“Oh, she’s wonderful. Steve was singing praises about her right hook his first session, but I was not expecting that, that’s fantastic!”_

_“She can definitely take care of herself.”_

_“She’s very protective you too, it seems.”_

_A grin. A shrug._

_“She’s my sister. She’s my family.”_

_A smile._

_“So, besides your foster-family, is there anyone else you consider family? The rest of Five-0, I presume?”_

_A nod._

_“And Daisy and Kamekona, I guess.”_

_“Who’s Kamekona?”_

_A grin._

_“My boss.”_

_“I knew you worked, it was in your paperwork. What is it you do?”_

_“Have you ever heard of Kamekona Shrimp?”_

_“Oh, of course!”_

_“I’m a busboy at the original food truck.”_

_“Oh, fancy!”_

_“Not really.”_

_“But you consider your boss family?”_

_“Five-0 does too, but after Steve gave me a shot, Kamekona gave me one too. He knows what it is to have hard times.”_

_“It must be nice having such a good boss.”_

_“Yeah, it gives me some spending money. Steve and Danny don’t make me pay for anything. They even pay for baseball.”_

_A smile._

_“What about Daisy?”_

_“The nanny.”_

_“Yeah, what do you think of her?”_

_“She’s great. She’s actually Kamekona’s cousin.”_

_“Really?”_

_A nod._

_“Apparently, Kamekona offered her up before Steve and Danny started looking, and then told her to interview with them, and they picked her without knowing the connection. Now that’s a real family connection. To gather everyone together without realizing it.”_

_“Does she help out with you much?”_

_“Not really, she’s been teaching me how to cook, but mostly she just drives us around and focuses on Charlie and Jack. She babysits for Joan, Steve’s niece, sometimes too.”_

_A grin._

_“And she’s dating Danny’s nephew, Eric.”_

_“Goodness, this really is turning into quite the family affair.”_

_A smile._

_“I bet that’s fun.”_

_“Oh, this one time…”_

~~~ ****

**Back before Steve and Danny were together, but just after Christmas, and just after Eric and Daisy decided to give it a shot**

****~~~

“Nahele, can you come down here?” Steve called.

Nahele, of course, came when he was called, because he was a good foster-son, who never did anything wrong, ever... He stalled on the last step when he realized what was in Steve’s hand, though.

It was a roll of condoms.

Steve’s one eyebrow was raised up high on his face and Nahele braced for the worst. He was going to get ‘the talk.’ The embarrassing one that all teenagers dreaded. He geared himself up to face thirty minutes to an hour of Steve stumbling his way through stuff the foster-system had already stuffed down his throat (no pun intended.) He was going to have to suffer.

Instead, “Something you want to tell me?”

“What? They aren’t mine.”

“Why were they in your backpack?”

“What were you doing in my backpack?”

“I was looking for a pen that worked, all the pens in the desk- T-t-this isn’t about me, this is about why you have condoms in your backpack.”

“They aren’t mine!” He said again with a shrug.

“You know you don’t have to sneak them, right? I could… ya’ know… Get… I’d rather you… ya’ know… do than you not… not.”

Oh thank god this man wasn’t giving him ‘the talk.’

“If I wanted condoms, I’d just take one out of your bathroom.”

“You take condoms out of our bathroom?”

“No,” He answered. “But I know they are there. I saw them when I went in there to get the Excedrin yesterday. Let’s talk about that.”

Steve sputtered for a moment before

“Yeah let’s talk about that! You have condoms in your bathroom?” Grace asked, excited and leaning over the railing, the snoop that she was.

“Grace?” Steve asked.

“You know what a condom is?” Danny asked her, coming from the doorway out of the kitchen, making this whole exchange about a hundred times more embarrassing.

“Of course I know what a condom is,” She rolled her eyes at him. Then she ran down the stairs in a hurry. The rest of them watched her bound down the steps with glee. She pushed past Nahele into the room between Steve and Danny. “Why do you two need condoms?”

Danny sputtered. “W-w-we…”

“They aren’t the condoms from our bathroom,” Steve tried to turn the conversation back to Nahele.

“That’s not what’s important right now,” Grace insisted. “You two need condoms because you’re together, right?”

They both stared at her wearing shocked, broken, caught faces.

“I can’t believe I’m having this conversation because of condoms!” Danny’s hands were waving around in front of him, his head raised to the sky. “No, Grace, we aren’t together,” His eyes flitted up to Steve, full of anger. Then, under his breath, “Apparently.”

Nahele watched as Steve lowered his gaze in guilt.

“What?” Grace asked, shoulders drooping and deflated.

Nahele felt the same way Grace looked, “Why not?”

“But New Year’s Eve…” Grace started.

“This is not about us!” Steve yelled, turning back to Nahele, “This is about why you have a roll of condoms in your backpack.”

“Why do you have condoms in your bathroom if you aren’t together?” Grace asked her father.

“He has condoms in his-“ Danny had started. Then he turned to Grace, taking in what she was asking. “We’re not having a conversation about uses for condoms today, Grace.”

“Oh my god,” Steve said, listening to Grace and Danny. Then he looked up at Nahele, question back on his face. He motioned with the hand that still held the condoms.

“They aren’t my condoms!” Nahele insisted, trying not to get in trouble.

“What if I want to have a conversation about the uses for condoms today?” Grace asked, crossing her arms.

“Then explain how the condoms got there.”

The front door opened, Eric and Daisy came in with the babies in tow.

“Can we please stop saying ‘condom!’?” Danny shouted arms out wide, just as they were all in the room.

They all had a moment that was honestly out of a sitcom where they all kind of sat and stared at each other in frozen embarrassment and confusion. Even Charlie sensed the awkwardness and stayed still. They had been talking over each other, having two or three different conversations all at once, interrupted by two outsiders and two babies.

Nahele broke first, “They aren’t mine, I swear!”

“Well, if they aren’t yours, and they aren’t mine, or Danny’s, then whose are they?” He rounded back to him, waving them in his face.

He shrugged, looking for words, because honestly he had no idea how six condoms ended up in the back pocket of his backpack. He had no need for them, that’s for sure.

“Uh,” Eric spoke up, holding a finger up. “I may have an idea of whose they are.”

“Whose?” Daisy asked.

He grimaced as he answered, “Mine.”

“What?” Danny spoke up; he walked into the room, snatching the roll from Steve’s hands. He made his way towards Eric with intent, waving them in his face this time. “Why are you putting condoms in my son’s bag?”

“I!” He started with his eyes and mouth wide. He turned to look at Daisy, who was sitting Jack’s carrier down on the coffee table, but very interested herself. He rolled his eyes. “You know how I came over last night when Steve and Danny had to work late?”

“Yeah,” She crossed her arms and eyebrow raised in warning.

“Well,” He said. “I… may… have thought it was a ‘netflix and chill’ kind of situation. But when you put that _‘big red line,_ ’” He said it like he was quoting her, pulling an invisible sting out in front of him with both hands, “About having…” He eyed Charlie at her feet. “ _Ya’ know…”_ He motioned to the condoms, “In this house... They were in my hands before you said that, and you were coming into the living room, and I didn’t want you to know I had them, and I wouldn’t have time to put them back in my pocket, and the bag was hanging there open on the hook… I just… went for it?” He smiled at Danny, and then Daisy, and then he turned on his heels to finally smile at Steve.

“So they’re yours?” Steve asked, making sure, eyes on Nahele, like maybe Eric was covering for him.

“They aren’t mine!” Nahele repeated.

“Yeah,” Eric said, plucking them carefully out of Danny’s fingers. “Mine.”

Once Danny’s hand was free, he used it to smack his nephew in the back of the head. “Wha were ya’ thinkin’? Put-en’ cahndums in a teenag-uh’s bag, huh?” His Jersey accent came out whenever he was talking to Eric.

“I’m sorry!” Eric’s was just as thick. Then he smirked at his Uncle. “I haad tuh hide ‘em! I’as tryin’ to score some poi’nts, ya’ know? Raise my percen’age up’a bit?”

“Wha’she gonna think a’ ya’ now, huh?” Oh, the weird contractions were coming out; he was full on Jersey now. Even Steve was smiling. He waved his hand towards Daisy, who was hiding a smile and chuckles behind a hand. “Ya’ an ani’mal and ya’ need’tah get out’ah my house.”

Nahele smiled with the rest of the room. Their accents only ever got that thick when Danny and Eric were yelling at each other. (Actually, Danny yelling at Eric.)

“But Uncle D!”

“Eh-eh, go, be-four I smack ya’gain.”

Eric back out of the house, and Danny shut the door just this side of a slam, and turned to the room with a sigh. Everyone was still laughing a bit.

“That accent is something else,” Steve admired. His face fell when Danny turned back towards him, face full of anger. Nahele was behind Steve, so he saw it full on, feeling the waves coming off Danny too, even though it wasn’t focused on him. Whatever Steve did, Nahele already felt bad for him.

“What’s a condom?” Charlie asked innocently.

Danny stared down at him, stricken.

Daisy let out a peel of a laugh, finally unable to hold it any longer. “Never a dull day at the McGarrett-Williams, that’s for sure!”

“Oh ma’ gawd.”

__~~~_ _

_A pause._

_“I think I have to agree with Daisy.”_

_“It was actually kind of amazing. I’d never been involved in any situation quite like that before.”_

_“Oh, I’d bet.”_

_A long pause._

_A comfortable settling into the couch._

_“So. Any updates on talking with Steve and Danny about what you want?”_

_A pause._

_“Actually… They want me to talk to you about that.”_

~~~ ****

**Last night**

****~~~

There was a knock at his bedroom door. It was late, like… he should be going to sleep kind of late. Instead was lying down with a book he was supposed to be reading for his summer reading list with music playing softly in his headphones. He was enjoying the list so far, it was all very easy reading for him. He’d have to ask for another ride to the library soon, to check out the rest of the list. It was only a few weeks into summer and he was halfway done.

Then what was he going to do for the rest of the summer?

But there was a knock at his door, and he didn’t mind putting the book down as Steve and Danny both opened the door and stood on the other side, serious faces again.

“Is something wrong?” He asked, taking off his headphones.

“Nope.”

“Then what’s up, guys?” He asked. “I thought my music was super low.”

“We didn’t even know you were listening to music,” Steve said, sending a look to Danny. Danny agreed.

“I know I should be asleep…”

“You’re fine, Nahele, you aren’t in any kind of trouble,” Danny held up his hands in a preventative motion.

“Oh.”

They moved into the room, and he sat up, pushing himself to rest against his headboard. Danny sat down at the chair at his desk, and Steve sat on his bed. They both looked at each other, like they expected the other to talk first. Nahele knew this look between them well. They did it all the time. Silent communication is a specialty of theirs. They liked spoken communication too, sure. Anyone that spent more than ten seconds with them figured that out, but they could have an hour long conversation with only a few facial expressions.

“Okay,” Steve said, like their little silent argument was over and it was decided that he’d be the one to speak. Danny sat back, proud. “You know how we talked about how we wanted you to think about what you wanted and we’ll help you get it?”

Nahele nodded slowly. “I don’t really know… do I have to decide now?”

“No,” Danny said again, shaking his head, leaning forward on his legs. “We realized we didn’t talk about what your options were.”

“Oh,” He said. “Go with my father,” He raised his eyes up at the ceiling, holding out a finger, counting and avoiding both of them as he said that. He held out a second finger and looked back at Steve, “or stay a foster-kid, right?” He looked at Danny.

“Sure,” Steve said. “You could stay a foster kid, if you wanted. You’ll always have a home with us.”

He sighed, “I still don’t know…”

He needed to clean his finger nails, he realized. Small bits of grease from the car sat at the edges of his nails. He started picking at them, all his focus on his hands.

“There’s a third option,” Steve said, biting his lip.

“Yeah, we talked about it and realized, you have a third option, and we’d like to present it to you.”

“…okay.”

_Emancipation._

That’s what he thought they were going to say; emancipation. He’d looked into it, knew a couple kids in the foster-care circles who had done it. Steve and Danny would probably sponsor him if he went that route. He already had a job with Kamekona, he could probably live with Steve and Danny until he found an affordable place. It wasn’t like he’d suffer at school for it; school was easy for him.

(Something he didn’t realize until Grace was crying over math homework at midnight, desperate to finish. She was smart with people. She knew how to work a room and a conversation and charm anyone. She was a goddamn genius when it came to people. That was Nahele’s weakness. People scared him, made him nervous.

They made a great pair though.)

“We’d like to adopt you,” Steve said instead.

It was what he hoped they’d say, he realized, deep down, below a mountain of crap he’ll probably spend the rest of his life trying to get rid of. He wanted them to ask him to stay and be theirs. Theirs like Jack, like Charlie, and like Grace. On paper, official, no one could ever take him away again. He looked at Steve wide eyed and he felt his mouth fall open.

“If you want us,” Danny said.

Nahele’s head snapped to Danny. He took a breath and realized he had been holding it in with the hope.

“Are you serious?” He asked.

Every kid in the state would want them. They must have taken it different because-

“We are serious,” Danny said. “But we know you’re trying with your father, so…”

He couldn’t find his words fast enough because Steve-

“We know that’s an important relationship. To know where you come from. Trust me, the conversations I wish I could have with my father…” He eyed Nahele, and shook his head. “That’s a conversation for another day.” He turned and reached out for his knee, squeezing it. “If you want to try to make it work with him, then we will help you do that, too. Either with being placed back with him, or staying with us and he’s got visitation, however you want to do it.”

Nahele felt his eyebrows meet on his head as he lowered his head.

Once upon a time, back when losing his mother was fresh, and foster-care was terrible… all he wanted was his father. Steve was right, it was important. There was a sense of duty and connection there he couldn’t just throw away. The hurt way too large whenever his father let him down. He used to lie in his bed at night, dreaming of his father showing up at his foster-home’s front door, demanding to bring him home, where he belonged, like he was some kind of White Knight in the nightmare his life turned into.

He looked up through his lashes.

Those white knights had been Steve and Danny though. The ones that had come along and threw an arm around his shoulders and pounded on the door and demanded he come home. They had been at every baseball game. They were the ones to put his A+’s on the fridge (next to Grace’s amazing B– ’s) and Charlie’s art projects. They were the ones that held him and fed him and clothed him and helped him grieve his mother.

But…

“You don’t have to decide right now,” Steve said, squeezing his knee again.

Danny leaned forward, reached out and squeezed his shoulder, “You don’t even have to choose tomorrow, or the next day. This is something you should take your time with, talk to people about. Maybe the therapist lady, you said you talked to her about your father, right?”

“Yeah,” He said softly.

It would make his father… all the progress he had made these last few months… the job, the apartment, the car, staying sober. All great things for an ex-con. Would Nahele choosing another family send him spiraling?

He looked up to Steve and Danny. It would break their hearts if he went back to his father. They’d hold their heads up high and help him every step of the way, but they’d do it while their hearts were breaking.

He didn’t-

_~~~_

_“It’s not about them, Nahele.”_

_“What?”_

_“It’s not about your fathers. All three of them, this isn’t about them. This choice shouldn’t be about them. It should be about you.”_

_…_

_“What’s going to make you happiest? Which family works best for you, and what you want out of life. Your fathers’ feelings aside… You’ve got to make this decision based on you, not on them.”_

_Another pause._

_“How would you feel if you left your father?”_

_“Guilty.”_

_“Why?”_

_“I’m his son.”_

_“Okay. So you feel like you have an obligation, like you owe him?”_

_“Don’t I?”_

_“That’s up to you to figure out. How would you feel if you left Steve and Danny?”_

_“I’d… I’d miss them. I’d… be sad, I guess.”_

_“But not guilty? Why not?”_

_“They wouldn’t expect me to…”_

_“To what, Nahele?”_

_“To be entitled to me. They want me even though I’m not theirs. I’d… miss them.”_

_“So this sounds like you’ve got a choice between a sense of duty and a sense of happiness. It’s up to you to decide what kind of person you want to be. Duty or happiness. Both reasons are very noble choices, either way.”_

_…_

_“What’s wrong with being in-between? Being a foster kid with Steve and Danny and allowing your father visitation?”_

_“There’s so much that’s just… up in the air. Whatever happens, I want it to be it. I’m tired of floating around waiting for another storm to come along and knock me out of the boat.”_

~~~ ****

**Just after Danny’s incident**

****~~~

Mary was insistent with Leia. Nahele could stay with her until Steve got home, that it wasn’t a problem.

“The problem isn’t about whether or not it would disrupt your life, Ms McGarrett, it’s that you aren’t certified to take in a foster child.”

“But I’m allowed to take Jack?”

“Since Steve petitioned for adoption of Jack, and he named you as his sister on the paperwork, I can swing it that you are a future relative, I’ve done that before. But I can’t do the same for Nahele.”

“Not for one night?” She asked, insistent.

“We aren’t sure how long Steve will be gone; my office can’t even get a hold of his commanding officer with the storm he’s in. All the people that we know that would have ability to pull the strings to we’d need to be pulled to do better than a phone call are out in the storm too and with Danny missing…”

Nahele’s heart dropped. This was awful. His worst nightmare. Yet another yank on his chain in a direction he had no control over. His fists were in balls at his side.

“What about the Whitakers?” Grace asked from next to him. Nahele looked up with hope.

“I looked them up before I came here,” She told him. “Since they were retiring from the foster program, they let their certification lapse. They aren’t qualified either.”

“They were qualified for over twenty years!” He argued.

“I’m sorry, Nahele. I know it isn’t ideal…”

“No, it’s not!” He said. “Where am I going to go? It’s the middle of the night!”

“You’re coming back to the office with me, for now.”

He wiped at his eyes.

“I’m sorry, Nahele. Go pack a bag.”

“But-“ Grace started. “Steve is okay! It’s _my father_ that’s missing!”

“Speaking of, if I leave a child knowing they don’t have a guardian…”

“My step-father is aware of the situation,” She shot back, angry at the wrong person, but needing to take it out on someone. “I’m staying here with Mary tonight, and going home with him tomorrow.”

“Good,” Then to Nahele. “I’m so sorry, honey. Steve’s status in the Navy switched to ‘active’ six hours ago and my boss was notified, and without being able to contact Danny… I put it off for as long as I could, but I can’t any longer.”

“I know,” He said, dejected. “I just… Can’t I stay here tonight? For Grace? In case…”

“I’m sorry, honey.”

“What about…” He started to ask about his father… but he doubted it. It would just be another blow he couldn’t handle tonight.

“I’m sorry, Nahele,” Mary told him, running a hand down his arm.

He shrugged. “At least you tried.”

The disappointment settled on his shoulders like an old friend. What if the new foster-home wouldn’t allow him his phone? How would he know about Danny or about Steve or get in contact with anyone? How would he know? Would they even-

Grace would find him, at least. Even if Steve or Danny didn’t come for him, Grace would. He turned to her, hugged her to his chest. “It’s okay, Grace.”

“No it’s not,” She said into his chest. “You’re my brother.”

“And you’re my sister, but I’ve got to go.”

~~~ ****

**And the next day**

****~~~

“What do you mean, ‘Maui?’” Nahele asked. “Why am I going Maui? Why can’t I stay on Oahu?”

“None of the group homes Oahu have space right now.”

“A group home?” Nahele didn’t think this could get much worse. But he was going to a group home on a different island and over a three hour boat ride away while people he cared about were missing. He dug his phone out of his pocket and handed it to her. “Well, they definitely won’t let me keep this. Will you keep it, in case someone calls? Maybe you can get a message to me in case…”

“Of course,” She took the phone from him. “I wish I didn’t have to do this, but it’s out of my hands at this point.”

“What about my biological father?” He asked, desperate. It was a long shot, but if it was a long shot that let him stay on Oahu, he was going up to bat and swing until he couldn’t anymore. “What if I went to stay with him?”

Leia’s face fell. “I already thought about that. In order to grant even a temporary custody agreement to an upstanding citizen would take a few days, considering it’s the weekend. But with your father’s record… it would probably take even longer, and you’d still end up on Maui, waiting for it to be granted.”

“Right,” He sat down hard and heavy on the couch in her office. The same one he slept on the night his mother died. He felt as alone now and he did when he was that little ten year old boy. He was so tired, he just wanted to lie back down on this couch and go back to sleep. “When do I leave?”

“Here in a few hours, we’ll be on the first ferry. You’ll stay here until then.”

“Can I call Grace? Tell her where I’ll be?”

“I’m not supposed to let you…” She started. He already geared up to fight her, squaring off her shoulders and trying not to cry at the unfairness of it all. “But you do have your own phone,” She handed him his phone back. “And if I step out of my office for a few minutes, I won’t know you would have done anything.”

He smiled. He had always liked Leia. He hoped his case didn’t change hands to some Maui social worker like it did last time.

“Thank you,” He said honestly.

She winked at him, and then she was out of her door.

_~~~_

_“I’ve worked with Leia several times. I like her too. She’s one of the good ones.”_

_“She really is.”_

_“But that sounds terrible. Was the group home what you expected?”_

_A pause. A frown._

_“Pretty much. I was the only boy there that hadn’t been to juvie. I was fresh meat and untested, in their eyes.”_

_“Oh, no.”_

_“Yeah. It was bad. It got worse when Leia showed back up and told me that Steve was fighting to get me back, but it had to go through the court, and his active duty had to be cleared back down to reservist and it was a whole mess, he showed up, told me everyone was okay, only the once just so he wouldn’t make things worse. That was nice.”_

_“How long were you there?”_

_“About a week. Went in on a Friday, left on a Wednesday.”_

_“That’s not so bad, in the big picture.”_

_A sigh._

_“I’m just tired of it being able to happen to me, without any kind of warning.”_

_A pause._

_“You said you had thought about emancipation? Is that still on the table?”_

_“That was before Steve and Danny offered to adopt me.”_

_“But your father still wanted you.”_

_“Sure.”_

_“You were willing to go through the process of being emancipated at fifteen before Steve and Danny’s offer, back when it was just emancipation or your father’s offer on the table. But suddenly they want to adopt you and emancipation is no longer an option for you?”_

_A pause._

_Several quick breaths._

_“Did you just make a decision?”_

_A nod._

_~~~_


	12. Chapter Eleven, Part One

~~~ __

_“Hello everyone.”_

_“Hi.” Said by two. “Hello.” Said by three._

_“It’s my first session with all of you, I’m excited.”_

_“We’re glad, I guess.”_

_“So, anything big and new to report?”_

_A grin._

_“He told yo- You told her?”_

_A grin._

_“I decided last time I was here.”_

_A kiss against a head._

__~~~ ****

**When he told them, only a few days ago**

****~~~

He knocked on their door late into the night. Steve was already in bed, stereotypically reading “Guns and Ammo,” like sailor he’d always be. He’d said something about it months ago, some throw-a-way comment, that he’d picked it up at work and just remembered it. Danny had made fun of him for it, and Steve took out a subscription the next day.  
Danny had a mouthful of toothpaste when Nahele knocked, but that didn’t stop Nahele.

“You guys decent?” He asked from the other side of the door.

Steve chuckled. “Oh no, it’s full on porn in here,” He called back with sarcasm.

The door didn’t open, and it was Danny’s turn to chuckle. He pictured Nahele standing on the other side of the door, debating whether that meant ‘open the door’ or ‘come back later.’ He was still probably scarred from-

~~~ __

_“Oh my god!”_

_Fingers in ears._

_“I thought we all agreed we wouldn’t talk about that again!”_

_A matching set of devious grins._

_A matching set of “NO!”s._

__~~~ ****

**Fathers’ day**

****~~~

“Danno,” Steve whispered into his ear as he kissed his temple. “Danno, wake up.”

“No.”

Steve laughed. “Please?” He rubbed his nose into Danny’s shoulder. “It’s kind of a special day for us, and the first time for me, and none of the kids are going to up for the Fathers’ day stuff they planned for another hour, but I am up now.” He rolled his hips into Danny’s backside, giving away the awful joke.

Danny groaned and turned in bed to look over his shoulder, “Would you please stop with those horrible lines?”

He was met with a huge grin, “You like it,” And then a kiss, “Come on, we don’t have much time,” And then a deeper kiss. 

Danny moaned into it, and turned into Steve’s solid chest, his arms going around Steve’s neck. He hated that he was this easy, that a couple kisses was all it took, and Danny would do anything Steve asked of him. His kisses had always had that effect. 

“On your back,” Danny ordered and Steve complied quickly, so it wasn’t like Danny was the only one that felt that way about their kisses.

Steve hummed as Danny readjusted himself, leg on either side of Steve, rubbing his face happily against Steve’s chest, leaving small kisses wherever he went. Steve contently ran his hands up and down Danny’s sides and Danny slowly slid a hand down between them.

“Happy Fathers’ day!” Danny said as his hand teased at Steve, then Danny lightly bit his chin. 

“Please don’t remind me of our children right now.” 

But he obviously didn’t want to stop because Steve closed his eyes and groaned, raising his hips towards Danny’s hand, towards his hips, towards any kind of friction, and Danny smirked. He loved Steve like this. Granted, there weren’t many things they did together in bed that Danny didn’t love. Nothing so far, in fact. But this, with Steve below him, and lazy, and willing… that was a wonderful present. So he rose so their eyes were even, and showed him his appreciation for his present with a deep, wet, lazy kiss.

Then, of course, their bedroom door swung open, and there were their kids carrying a tray of pancakes. 

A broken chorus of ‘HAPPY FATH-ers’… day,’s and ‘oh my GOD!’s’ filled their room. 

Danny panicked and tried rolling off of Steve, but Steve only held tighter, and, like it was out of a tacky movie, they fell off the far side of the bed in a pile of blankets and sheets.

Their children’s singing stopped mid line and they stared, frozen and wide eyed. Steve buried his face in Danny’s shoulder and Danny took a deep breath, really, because this wasn’t happening. How did they keep walking into these ridiculously corny moments, like they were characters on a cheesy television show?

“Are you okay, Danno?” Charlie, innocent little Charlie, asked, trying to look at them over the edge of the bed. “‘Mander?”

Danny and Steve both looked up over the bed, bed hair and pre-sex hair in every which direction, and Danny was actually thrilled with how red Steve’s face was. He had started laughing.

“Uh,” Grace said, gripping the breakfast tray, eyes wide, and face almost as red as Steve’s. “Maybe we should have knocked.” 

“Ya’ think?” Nahele countered, adjusting a sleepy looking Jack in his arms. “Come on, Charlie,” He held out a hand. “Let’s let them wake up and join us in the kitchen, yeah?”

“But they fell off the bed!” Charlie was worried.

Danny was full on laughing at this point and couldn’t properly respond. Steve shoved him, obviously embarrassed, but Danny gave as good as he got and shoved him back. Steve grinned, then started chuckling too. Danny leaned forward to kiss him and got a mouthful of laugh.

They were kissing chastely when they heard the door click.

Steve pulled back with an apologetic face, still very red, but smiling wide. Danny was appreciative of the view, falling for him a little bit more at the ridiculous face. It was so cliché, but it was wonderful. Something they could laugh about for years. 

“So that happened,” Steve said, biting his lips.

“Happy Fathers’ Day!” Danny said again, and all that did was start another round of laughter and another round of kisses.

~~~ __

_A groan._

_“I can’t believe they are telling this story again.”_

_“Fathers’ Day was only like three weeks ago.”_

_“Yeah, but it’s so good.”_

_A set of groans._

_“I don’t understand what’s so funny about falling off the bed.”_

_A pause._

_Five voices laughing._

_“Oh, goodness. You all are a breath of fresh air compared to my other clients. You’ve been something I’ve started to look forward to these last few weeks.”_

_A bunch of smiles._

_“So that was just before Charlie’s custody hearing, right?”_

_A couple nods._

_“And we don’t talk about it anymore.”_

_“Okay, okay.”_

_“For today.”_

_Another set of groans._

_Fathers giving each other high fives._

_“Can you get back to telling her about the other night, please? And off talking about…”_

_A pause._

_“…condoms.”_

_A groan, drowned out by laughter._

__~~~ ****

**Okay, okay, back to that night**

****~~~

“Oh, no, it’s full on porn in here,” He called back with sarcasm. 

“Come in,” Danny called back, sending a ‘would ya’ stop?’ look towards Steve. Steve only smiled innocently back at him.

Nahele, poor Nahele, opened the door slowly and peeked in first before letting himself in. Steve laughed at the move.

“Well, can you blame me?” Nahele asked.

“No,” Danny answered, putting his toothbrush away. “We don’t blame you. What’s up?”

“Can we talk about my decision?”

Steve put his magazine on the night stand and put aside his glasses, all attention on Nahele.

(Those glasses were a battle over the last year all by their lonesome. Steve started having eye strain with the computer first. When Danny bought him a pair of readers from the drug store last Fall, they “mysteriously went missing.” 

Danny bought him several more in retaliation. 

Once he moved in, he was only on Steve’s case more often, handing him a pair of glasses ( _“What did- Wher- Did you buy a pair of these for every room?” “Maybe. Don’t look at me like that, I’ll never talk. I’m like a vault.” “Vaults can be opened, Danny.” “Do you want to know what the key to my vault is?” “Malasadas?” “…no. You admitting that you’re getting older and need glasses, because watching you try to read gives_ me _strain headaches.”_ whenever he saw him squinting at something he was reading.)

Steve only admitted that they made computer screens easier by that winter, and that maybe they help with print on paper only a few months ago, but he was still firm on the whole _“If I’m getting old, then you’re getting old.” “Fine. That means vice versa is true, and I’m. Getting. Old.” “Daaannnnnyyyyyyyyyy.”_ ) 

“Did you decide?” Steve asked, sitting up straight. Danny was sitting on a string on nerves himself. “Or did you just want to talk about it some more?”

Nahele bit his lip. “I decided.” 

This was the moment of truth.

Would they be able to give control and security back to Nahele’s life?

Would they have to offer the stability while he spread his wings and tried it on his own?

Was he going to have a third son?

…was he going to be a father of four, just like his father before him?

“I…” He started, pulling himself in on himself, making himself small. Danny didn’t dare touch him, wanting the news before he decided what kind of comfort he was allowed to give. He hadn’t felt so unsure since that night they put up all the Christmas stuff, with him shuffling around the house like a mouse in his socks.

“I would like for you two…” He looked down and bit his lip again, “…to adopt me.”

Relief and joy and love swelled through Danny like he had a jug of water poured over his head. He watched as Nahele looked up at Steve first, but Danny couldn’t see Steve’s face. He was too busy looking at his son. He pulled his son to him by the back of his head in the tightest hug he had given him yet. Nahele rested his head down on Danny’s shoulder, and he had never done that before.

At some point Steve had come over and joined them, wrapping his arms around Nahele so he’d be sandwiched between the two of them.

They stood there like that, Steve rocking them a little, and Danny lost track of how long. 

Deciding to adopt Jack with Steve was a choice he made, and he made it happily, easily, and quickly. This… This was harder, and it meant so much to Danny. They had wanted so badly to let Nahele decide his fate, where he’d go, what would happen to him, and he chose them. Letting him have choices and make his own decisions was more important than what they wanted. It had been hard but this moment was rewarding.

He looked up at Steve over their son’s shoulders and they both shared a wide smile. Giving up control had been hard for Steve, but Steve knew intimately what it was like to have a choice about what happened to you taken out of your hands at fifteen. He and Nahele were meant to be standing right here, it seemed.

Danny was honored.

~~~ __

_“You were honored?”_

_“Yeah. You want me to be your dad! There’s nothing more important to me than being a dad.”_

_A pause._

_“I cried.”_

_A couple chuckles._

_“We weren’t the only ones that got emotional.”_

_“…no. …you weren’t.”_

__~~~

Nahele started crying between them. Danny pulled back after he let him let it out for a few moments. Steve looked so concerned, but Danny shook his head at him, closing his eyes and petting the back of his son’s head to sooth him.

They pulled out of the hug eventually, and Nahele was wiping at his face. Steve reached out and cupped his face. They stared at one another for a moment, before they both broke out into smiles.

“Why are you crying?”

He sniffed, “I don’t know. Lots of reasons.” He bit his lips.

Danny pulled them both towards the bed to sit down. He sat down, letting his bad leg stretch out into the room with the other folded up between them. He patted the bed looking up at Nahele. Nahele grinned, excited at the invitation. He flopped down, and quickly sat cross legged, Steve mirroring Danny on the other side of him.

He sat between them, rocking back and forth between them for a moment. Danny watched as he scrunched his nose and closed his eyes he smiled so hard.

“Okay, now what’s that for?” Danny asked.

He opened his eyes and looked back and forth between them. “I’m going to have parents.” His tone was one of astonishment. “I never thought…”

His smile fell, and his face broke into the starts of crying again.

Danny leaned forward, resting his chin on his son’s (and man, he was excited to remove the ‘foster’ part of that, so he no longer had to correct himself out loud) shoulder. “You’re feeling lots of things right now, aren’t you?”

He nodded. “Can I blame puberty?” 

Steve grabbed his head and pulled him towards him with several quick kisses to the side of his face and hair. Nahele’s nose scrunched in a smile again. It was a new addition to his face, something Danny had never seen before. It was side of himself he was holding back, and now felt comfortable with showing it to them. Danny let himself fall a little bit more in love with his kid. 

Oh, he didn’t realize how much he was holding back in the love department. It was like the engines were on full speed ahead and Danny was just holding on, enjoying the ride.

Nahele pulled back from Steve with a look. “I expect kisses from Danny,” He said, grinning at Danny, “But from you?” He cocked his head, teasing.

“Oh,” Steve took it as a challenge, and Danny smiled fondly. “Just because of that, I am now going to be an embarrassing kisses kind of dad. Even in public. In front of your friends. Expect a plethora of kisses in your future.” He repeated the kisses, this time with added, exaggerated sound effects, and Nahele giggled. What a wonderful, carefree sound.

Steve moved to hold him after that, and Danny leaned forward and rested his head again, this time reaching out and snaking a hand between Steve’s chest and his back. Nahele leaned into them, his own hands reaching up and grasping their arms. Somehow Danny found himself looking down and seeing Steve’s hand in his. This pretzel of a hug should not have been as comfortable and sure as it was. 

They let Nahele lead them, however long he wanted to stay there, with them, they’d let him. (Later, he’d lay down in the middle of their bed, tired from the yo-yo of emotions and tears and laughter, and even that they let him stay in their bed. All three of the other kids had made their way into their bed to spend the night since everything with Danny’s incident. All three… except for Nahele.)

His smile fell and his hands tightened on their arms, and Danny braced himself for the next round of emotions.

“I’m going to have to tell my father,” He said sadly.

Danny bounced his chin on his shoulder. “We can go with you when you do, if you want.”

“Yeah.”

“He’s going to be mad.”

“He’s going to have to calm down and deal with it, because I’m not letting you go now, not without a major fight,” Steve said, squeezing him, kissing the back of his head for good measure.

A little spark of a smile popped up at the kiss, so Danny was going to have to tell Steve to keep the whole ‘embarrassing kissing kind of dad’ thing up for real, just in case Steve wasn’t already planning on it. That little spark was gone as fast as it had arrived, he was so afraid of something. Danny squeezed him for good measure.

“I mean it,” Steve reinforced. They both looked so serious. “I walked into my office one day and I was so ready to drop the full extent on the law on top of whoever stole my dad’s car.”

“You’re grandpa’s old, crappy, car,” Danny whispered, not meant as an interruption, they both knew he was kidding at this point. He knew what that car meant to them. 

“Watch it,” They both said at the same time, quick to the defense of a hunk of metal. Then they realized what he said at the same time, blinking at the realization, almost in sync. Danny smiled fondly. Nahele bit his lip at whatever was floating through his mind, and Steve grinned and pulled Nahele tighter.

“But you were in my office looking so… I felt it with Jack too, ya’ know. A feeling in my gut. And at the time with you, I thought it was because of something that was happening with this case we were working on, but really it was…” His hug tightened again. “I wanted to hold you like this, even on that first day. You were supposed to be here, I just didn’t know it yet.”

~~~ __

_“And what’s crazy is I was horrible with kids before I met Grace.”_

_“Really?”_

_“Oh yeah, he was terrible. I was dreading him meeting you, because I didn’t know how either of you would react.”_

_“How did they react?”_

_“By the end of the month she was calling him ‘Uncle Steve.’ You tell me.”_

_Two sharing a smile, then a high five._

__~~~

Danny honestly couldn’t look away from his son.

Oh, Danny knew this feeling. This impossible feeling of awe and reverence and fear and wondering if he’d ever be able to look at anything else other than his child’s face for the rest of the day.

He felt it the moment the judge said that it was official, that Jack was his son legally and binding and no one could say otherwise. This heavy weight both hitting him hard in the chest and being lifted off of him, like he was flying against the wind. Danny wanted to lift him up and show the world _‘Look at my kid! He’s my kid! He’s mine!’_ He had felt it with all his kids, but maybe it was something about adopting being just a bit different, but it was like no one could question his dedication to him any longer. So much of his own life had been out of sorts this year, like he was turning in circles. Jack felt like a sign that the conditions were finally right. A flag in the breeze signaling to everyone who saw them that this was real. This family he and Steve had built was real. They didn’t set out to build this family, but halfway there they realized where it could go, and purposely set it in their sights.

With Charlie, both the first time he saw him, and the first time he looked at him knowing he was his son… he felt both joy and heartbreak. _‘He’s gorgeous and I’m so proud to be a part of this and he’s this unbelievable little life. He was Stan’s and what a horrible lie we’ve all been told and I’ve missed so much already, he can’t be sick, we can’t lose him.’_ Every time he looked at his floppy blond hair, and his deep little dimples, and with every shark fact he brought to him, Danny fell in love with him. Every time though, he’d feel this darkness, deep in his gut. Joy and heartbreak, both were so important and so vital to loving Charlie. He wouldn’t have this incredible joy without all the hard and scary bits letting him know just how lucky he was to have him. The storms make the time in the sun that much warmer.

The first time he felt this he was twenty five and in over his head and the nurse handed him his daughter, and before, oh before that moment he thought he knew what love was. How naive he was. Because he could look at Rachel and it felt like his heart was dancing. But with Grace all bundled up in his arms… it was more than anything he’d ever be able to describe. He spent the next twelve years trying to define it, and failing. She became his life, his reason for getting up in the morning, and the very air in his lungs, that moment in the hospital room. The closest he had ever gotten was she was like he had suddenly dropped anchor. Something that stopped him, his rock in stormy waters. She had changed his life forever, and he never wanted to look back.

With Nahele, it was full steam ahead. Like he was finally ready to set sail, that moment Nahele told them he was choosing them. It was hard, loving him with the knowledge he was temporary. He wasn’t anymore, he chose them! He wanted to be with them! They couldn’t have gone anywhere without him, in hindsight. Of course they couldn’t, he was their son. How could they keep going without him? He was the real reason they were all together now, the instigating factor, the sole motivator that made them go in this direction in the first place. They would have been dead in the water without him.

Danny had once compared Steve and himself to a boat (sorry, “dingy,”) battling a storm. They had started with that little, sad, sinking ship, and now look at them. It took some treading water, some arguing, some much needed knowledge of sharks, but they had made it to a ship. How corny was it that he compared his family to a ship? The colors flying proudly against the wind. The decks from the hull where it’s dark and hard work to upper deck out in the sun. The anchor, holding them steady and giving them a chance to find their bearings. And now the engine, maybe needing a bit of elbow grease to get it going, but still full steam ahead. 

He looked up at Steve, feeling every bit of the sap that he was, not even believing himself for the next 

It was a good thing he fell in love with a sailor.

~~~ __

_“What a sap.”_

_“Hey, I own up to that one.”_

_“You two are ridiculous.”_

_“You love us.”_

_“Hey, I’m the anchor in this simile; I’m going to call it like I see it.”_

_“Metaphor.”_

_“What?”_

_“It’s a metaphor.”_

_A groan._

_“Whatever!”_

_“You know… the anchor and the engine have to work together in order to move the ship. Sometimes they work against each other, but that’s how you control the ship. To back up, to turn around sudden obstructions. It’s how a ship maneuvers, it takes both of them together.”_

_A shared smile._

_“Now whose the sap?”_

_“You know what this metaphor is missing?”_

_A grin._

_A gasp._

_“The rudders?”_

_“Oh no. Not the little sister thing again.”_

_“But we need another member of this family! Make the metaphor complete!”_

_“Nah, we have the rudders.”_

_“What? Who?”_

_“Danno. You said Grace felt like she was making you stop and straighten out, find your course. I’m the bridge, of course, but you’re the rudders. I can’t go in any direction without you.”_

_A smile._

_“Sap.”_

_A laugh._

_A kiss._

__~~~


	13. Chapter Eleven, Part Two

~~~ __

_“So, Nahele, have you spoken to your father about your decision yet?”_

_“Yeah.”_

_“How’d that go?”_

__~~~ ****

**Yesterday**

****~~~

They walked into the same diner Nahele had met his father for dinner every other Wednesday night for the last six months, give or take. He was sitting in the same booth by the window, already ordered both of their drinks.

He stood up, pulling at his shirt, with a wide smile for Nahele. Kaili Huikala just looked like he was an ex-con. He had the neck tattoo and the long, uncared for hair, the clothes that didn’t quite fit right, and over eagerness to impress. His father was a walking stereotype. But he was trying, he really was, and Nahele had to give him that.

His only hope was that his news didn’t make his father spiral back into a life of crime again. He read somewhere that prison can be addictive without reasons to stay out. 

“Why’d you bring your parole officers?” He asked Nahele in what he thought was a joke instead of a greeting or a hug.

Kaili also hated cops.

“Don’t call them that,” Nahele snapped.

Steve and Danny gave each other a look before Danny spoke up, “We’ll be… over at the, ah, the bar… thing.”

“Unless you…” Steve motioned towards the booth.

“No,” Nahele shook his head. “I want to try to do this alone.”

“Do what alone?” His father asked.

“Let’s sit down,” Nahele started. “Because, first off-“

“Before you start,” He said. “I ordered you a coke; I hope that’s okay, and some good news. Finally.”

Nahele took a beat to steady himself. “What?”

“I finally found a lawyer that would take my case yesterday! Isn’t that good news?”

Nahele bit the inside of his cheek. “I should have gone first.”

Dread floated over his father’s face. “Oh.”

“First off,” He restarted. Nahele had practiced this little speech in his room all night. He ran it by Grace so many times; you’d think he’d have it memorized. “You’re my father, and that’s not going to change.”

He smiled a loose grin at him, “That’s good.”

“But I don’t want you to file for custody of me.” He looked down at his hands, not wanting to see the reaction on his father’s face. Then he remembered Grace, and her advice to look him in the eye and not to back down from his choice. “I can’t control what you do, but I hope you’d take my feelings into consideration with what you choose to do next.”

“You don’t want to live with me anymore? What was all that when you came to visit me in prison, saying the foster-system is crap, and whatnot?”

“It is, mostly,” He said, turning to look at Steve and Danny, being ridiculous and looking over their shoulders, watching them without any subtly. He was getting off track. He took a deep breath. “I’m not finished.”

“Okay,” His father said, adjusting in his seat, already looking agitated. 

“I want you to sign over your parental rights.”

“What?” He made an outraged face. “Why would I do that?”

“So Steve and Danny can adopt me.”

The face starring back at Nahele could only be described as shocked and betrayed. Nahele clung on to Grace’s advice to hold firm.

“You’re trading in your flesh and blood father, for a pair of fake fathers,” He gestured towards Steve and Danny sitting at the bar. They were both doing a really bad job of pretending to read the menu. “A couple of pork rinds have got you brainwashed!”

“Don’t call them that,” He said again.

“I was tryin’ real hard Nahele, I know I’m not the fanciest or richest like-“

“That’s not why I-” He interrupted. “Their money or job or house has nothing to do with it. Besides, my foster-sibling’s step-father is much richer than them, with a much bigger house, and all my siblings live mostly full time with us. It has nothing to do with money.”

“How many of you are there again? Four? What, do they collect you guys? Brainwash you into staying?”

“That’s not it either,” He argued. “And they don’t brainwash, stop saying that.”

“What do they do, then?”

“They care about what I want.”

“So if you told them you wanted me to take custody of you, they’d just… let you go, cut off contact?”

“Well, they wouldn’t cut off contact. I seriously doubt that, but yes. They’d even help you get the right legal help too. They still would, you know. If I asked.”

“Then do it,” He leaned forward, hunched over like he didn’t want anyone to hear them. Like he was planning another job and Nahele was his getaway driver. The thought turned ugly in his stomach. “We could be together again, leave this island, maybe go to Maui, and start over where no one knows us!”

Nahele shivered at the thought of Maui, his time in the boy’s home in Maui when he was taken from Steve and Danny still fresh in his mind, so many months ago. All that did was make his decision all that much clearer. Lots of talking helped Nahele realize his nightmares about that place had nothing to do with how they treated him there, and everything to do with how he was taken from his family. His father hadn’t even been aware he had left Oahu until he told him.

“Just the two of us, father and son. _Real_ father and son.”

He looked up at that, the first bit of anger of the conversation finally bubbling to the top and out of Nahele. “What do you know about being a _real father_?”

“…I-“

“Nothing, because you went to prison when I was five years old! I haven’t seen you without a piece of glass separating us in over ten years and I’ve been coming here almost every other week for six months now and you still can’t hug me.”

“If you want a hug-“

“I don’t want a hug,” He said. “I want a father. You should have been there when mom died, but no. You were in prison.”

“I couldn’t help that!” He argued. “The system-“

“No, the system didn’t screw you over, you got caught. There’s a difference.”

Kaili sat back at that.

“Where were you when I was living on the street? When I was hungry and dirty and stealing things _like you,_ ” He said those words with malice. Later he might regret that, but right now he was on a roll, “Just so I could eat. Where I had to fight for a place to sleep, or lie about where my parents were just so I wouldn’t get picked up and sent to juvie. Where were you when I needed someone to tell me I was important and worth the trouble, when all I’ve ever been told was I was a bother and piece of garbage? Where were you when I was crying in the middle of the night when I was ten years old because my mother was dead and everyone just wanted me to shut up?”

“I…” He lowered his gaze, unable to look Nahele in the eye.

“Because Steve found me. He found me on the street. You want to know the first thing he did? He bought me new clothes, he made sure I got a shower, and he made sure I was eating. He gave me a job where I actually got paid and still ate for free just because I worked there. He made sure I was put into a good foster home, and he checked on me all the time. That was _before_ I lived with him, _before_ I was his foster-son, and _before_ I was his responsibility. He did it just because he knew I needed it.”

He was so very off track, letting his anger and resentment get away from him. But he couldn’t stop. Being around Danny had rubbed off on him, it seemed. He needed to get all this off his chest.

“And Danny doesn’t go a day without holding me, or hugging me, or telling me I’m important to him, or that he loves me. He taught me how to throw a baseball, and how to cook lasagna, and how to talk to girls. He saw that I was bored in school, that I am smart. _I am so smart._ He suggested I get tested, and guess what? I’m qualified for some of the more advanced classes, meant for older students, and I could even go to college for some classes this fall, if I decide to. That was thanks to Danny. College.”

They sat in silence for a moment, letting everything sink in between them.

“They bought mom a headstone.”

Kaili looked up at that one.

“Have you even gone out to see her since you’ve gotten out?”

He readjusted in the booth, “I’ve been meaning to, it’s-“

“Yeah, you’ve been meaning to do a lot of things.” Nahele cut him off with a mean jab. He sat back, trying to catch his breath, the words he wanted to say screaming at him, but unable to voice any of them. “I resent you for so many things you weren’t there for, and I love them for showing me that life is not supposed to be that way.”

“You’re my son,” Kaili said to him, leaning heavy on his hands in front of him. It was like the weight of Nahele’s words were actually hitting him, and this was the first sign of any kind of emotion other than anger and outrage and pompous and misplaced righteousness Nahele had seen out of him in six months… in years. “What do I do, if not look out for you?”

“I’m always going to be your son.” There he goes, that’s the right track. Thanks for that perfect opening. “Steve and Danny won’t take that away from me. Not if I want a relationship with you.” His practiced speech and carefully chosen words came back to him like muscle memory. Finally. “But please, don’t make me resent you for the rest of my life because you couldn’t see that the best way you can be my father is to let them be my fathers too. This way, I get to keep all three of you. …but only if you’re on board.”

~~~ __

_“Why doesn’t your other dad hang out with us like my other dad does?”_

_“We’re not quite ready for that, Charlie. My dad’s not as cool with everything as your dad is.”_

_“Why not?”_

_A shrug._

_“Maybe he can come fishing with us next time so he can become cooler about it.”_

_A couple laughs._

_“That’s very sweet, and I’ll ask when things settle down, but I doubt it’s that easy.”_

_A pout._

_“I’m sorry.”_

_“It’s okay.”_

_A child crawling into a big brother’s lap._

_A hug._

_“Did your daddy go on a fishing trip with you guys?”_

_“Uh-huh! Daddy’s got a big boat, but never takes it out, and he wanted to do something special for all of us and so_

__~~~ ****

**A couple days ago**

**( _“Try the weekend before the custody stuff started, Hammerhead. That was almost month ago.”_**

**_“Oh, okay.”_ )**

**A month ago**

****~~~

Danno caught a fish. He called it a “toony fish” and he laughed and everyone laughed and ‘Mander took pictures of it and, and, and they ate it later and it was really good, Kamekona’s a really good cook. “‘Hele caught a fish too.

( _“Did we eat your fish?” “Yep.”_ )

And they ate that fish too.

Charlie didn’t catch a fish, but that was okay because it was his first time in a boat that went that far out into the ocean.

But daddy’s boat is so big it’s got rooms downstairs and they slept there one night! They slept in a boat, could you believe it? He didn’t know you could do that. Charlie’s been on lots of boats, but never overnight. It was kind of like camping and camping was really fun. It made him feel really grown up.

Jack couldn’t go because Jack was a baby and babies shouldn’t be on boats. He stayed home with Daisy. But Charlie was a big kid, he was almost five, ya’ know. He starts kindergarten this year. So he got to go on the boat.

And then he wore a purple life jacket. It was purple because it used to be Grace’s lifejacket but that’s okay because it worked for him too. But he wore a purple life jacket and Danno let ‘Mander take him into the water and it was the deep water, out so far you couldn’t see the land anymore! And he was in the water way out there! And he wasn’t scared at all! 

He wanted to spend longer out there, but daddy said no.

It was really funny when he asked for five more minutes and ‘Mander went “Yeah, five more minutes, PLEASE!” and they let them stay in the water and Gracie and ‘Hele were laughing at them, but ‘Mander said that they did good and high fived him. He put on ‘Mander’s googles and he saw fish-

HE SAW A SHARK!

( _“When you were in the water?” “No, it wasn’t the same day but_ ) it was still super cool. Daddy held him over the edge so he could see it (Danno kept telling him to not put his hand in the water, but he just wanted to touch it) and guess what kind of shark it was!

It was a Tiger Shark! The coolest shark there is!

Well.

Number two coolest.

Hammerhead wins first place because, because he’s got the eyes that go out like in both directions (“ _Like this,_ ” He said, throwing his hands out in the shape of the shark.) And I got my Danno-nickname because the Hammerhead is the first place coolest shark there is. And Danno knows that because Danno’s super smart like daddy.

THE SHARK WAS SO COOL THOUGH, the shark wasn’t a Hammerhead, but it was Tiger Shark so it was still cool and ‘Mander got a really bad sunburn because he didn’t listen to Danno about putting on more sun lotion stuff and ‘Mander said that seals don’t burn and I think he’s right because they lay on rocks all day being lazy but he still got all red and peel-y and seals don’t get red and peel-y.

But ‘Mander turned as red as a lobster all over his shoulders and nose and he and Danno played doctor when they got home.

~~~ __

_Laughs all around._

_“Played doctor?”_

_“I put Aloe Vera on him.”_

_“No, ‘Mander asked if you’d play doctor with him later, and you said ‘only if he’d listen to doctor’s orders,’ and then I asked if I could play with you guys, but you said I had to go to bed.”_

_A pout._

_A couple of embarrassed dads._

_More laughs from a couple teenagers._

_"It's not so funny when someone else is talking about it, huh?"_

_A couple of dads pretending they didn't hear that comment._

_A couple of teenagers high fiving each other._

_“You tell stories really well, Charlie.”_

_“Yeah, I know.”_

_A fond smile._

_“Well, I’m really glad I got to see all of you together.”_

_“We’re just missing Jack!”_

_“You’re right, Charlie.”_

_“Why didn’t he come?”_

_“Because he can’t tell stories like you can, and I bet he really needed a nap.”_

_“Oh, that child and his naps.”_

_“I don’t think I’ve ever met a baby that_ wanted _to take naps as much as he does.”_

_A soft smile._

__~~~ ****

**The first day Jack was officially a Williams-McGarrett**

**( _“McGarrett-Williams.” “Oh my god, not this again, can I just tell my story?” “By all means, babe. But it’s McGarrett-Williams._ )**

**The first day Jack was officially a Williams-McGarrett**

**( _A frustrated sigh._**

**_A smug grin._ )**

****~~~

Max had gone through so much to throw this party. He was excited to hear his two friends were adopting the baby he’d met a dozen times and even spent a weekend babysitting already. His admiration for the Detective grew by leaps and bounds. Steve knew it was because of his own history with adoption, but the enthusiasm from his friend was nice to see.

The party was decked out to the nines. “It’s a boy!” balloons tied to the fence at the street. Blue and green streamers lined the walk way up into the house. Horns were blown and confetti was thrown the moment they walked through the door.

Of course Jack was half naked.

And of course Jack got so cranky when they kept him past his nap (so he would be at the party for pictures and his new family to coo at him) that he screamed, and Steve could count on one hand the number of tantrums his son had had in his life. 

So they laid him down like he wanted, and he was happy, and he was asleep on Danny’s chest, not letting him move from their bedroom for hours while the party continued on the other side of the door, like he was punishing them for not letting him sleep.

“Still sleeping, huh?” Mary asked.

“Yeah, he sleeps about an hour every afternoon, like clockwork. Daisy says he sleeps the whole time in the car when she’s gone picking up Charlie at daycare and then sleeps in his carrier another half hour before he’s up and a happy baby again. That’s pretty much Danny and I’s observation too, but today we disrupted his schedule.”

“Well, I’m really proud of you,” She told him. “I don’t know if I’ve said that yet.”

Steve’s heart soared. The last few years he had really tried to reconnect with his sister. It felt right, having her home on the island, where she in the same time zone, and a ten minute drive away. Charlie and Joan were practically best friends (Joan had sage, wise advice about kindergarten, and Charlie listened with rapt, wide eyes.) 

“And it’s cool. About his name, I mean.”

“What about his name? His birth mother gave him his name.”

Mary looked up at him like he had lost it. “Oh come on, you haven’t realized?”

“What?”

“I have a daughter named Joan, and you have a son named Jack.”

Steve drew a blank. “Yes. And?”

“Some people called daddy ‘Jack.’” It was like ice water ran down his back. “We both have a kid with a version of daddy’s name. I think it’s cool.”

Steve took that in, thinking it over. What a daunting thought. He looked towards his bedroom door, where his son was asleep on the love of his life’s chest. 

“Steve?”

“Yeah,” He turned to her quickly. “No, I didn’t realize…”

She smiled coyly at him. “Only you would have a father named ‘John,’ adopt a boy named ‘Jack,’ and not make the connection.”

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but us McGarrett’s aren’t exactly the most well-adjusted people in the world.”

“Oh, trust me. I know,” She said.

They had the same parents, came from the same home, grew up with vastly different life experiences, and yet, here they were. They stood in their childhood home together, both choosing to adopt – to give a child who would need love and support more than the average child. Kids who would one day wonder how their parents could ever give them up. 

They had been torn apart from each other and yet, somehow, like it was one part fate and one part accident, they ended up in the same place.

“Daddy was the same way, I think. Never knowing our grandfather… needing to live up to this huge, important thing, and not knowing what he thought, or who he was.”

She was right. When did she get so smart? 

“We’ve got to stop that tradition, you know.”

He pulled her into a hug just so she wouldn’t see his eyes watering. “You’re right.”

“And we’ll help each other do that, right?”

“Oh, you’d get me even if you didn’t want me.”

He had never felt closer to his sister.

~~~ __

_“I’m glad you found your way back to each other, Commander.”_

_“Me too. I’ve learned the importance of siblings these last few years, especially with these two.”_

_A set of smiles._

_“Well, time’s almost up, and you’ve all only got one more one on one session before I send in my assessment. Anyone want to say anything, or ask about anything, or talk about something they were worried to talk about?”_

_A pause._

_“We do have one problem we need to work out as a family, Dr. Harris.”_

_“What is that, Grace?”_

_“If we are a ship, what’s this ship’s name?”_

_“What?”_

_“Are you really going to bring this up again, Grace?”_

_“We need a mediator, ‘Hele. You suggested that. The therapist will work. So. Are we the Williams-McGarrett family or the McGarrett-Williams family.”_

_“Williams-McGarrett.” “McGarrett-Willams.”_

_“Now wait a minute, why should your name get to be last?”_

_“Because ‘Williams-McGarrett’ sounds like ‘McGarrett’ is the possession of some guy named William! I’m the only guy with any kind of claim over you, thank you very much.”_

_“Exactly. You’re William. I’m yours. Nice play on words. Or. Well. Names. Play on names.”_

_“No, I’m Williams. With an ‘s.’ How long have you known me? Why should yours get to be last?”_

_“Because of if we ended with Williams, we’d be the ‘McGarrett-Williams-es,’ with the extra little ‘-es’ on the end and I’ve always hated that.”_

_“That’s such a ridiculous reason! I have lived with the name Williams my whole life, the extra ‘-es’-es aren’t that bad. And not everyone says them!”_

_“Yeah, but with McGarrett as the end, we could just have an ‘apostrophe-s’ instead of fighting over adding another ‘s’ to a name that already ends with an ‘s!’”_

_“Another ridiculous reason because it’s literally just ‘add an apostrophe after the ‘s.’’”_

_“No, it’s not!”_

_A daughter, at the end of her rope._

_“Help us, Dr. Harris. You’re our only hope.”_

_~~~_


	14. Interlude Two

~~~ ****

**The waiting room, present day**

****~~~

Charlie was the first one out of the door, everyone ready to get out of the office, and pick up Jack and hit JJ’s for the buffet. (So Danno wouldn’t complain about the pineapple. Too much.) Of course, there was a waiting room between the back offices where all the doctor’s rooms were, and the exit.

“Mommy!” Charlie said happily.

And of course her mother just had to schedule her next session directly after theirs. 

“Hey, Charlie!” She said happily, moving out of her seat, leaning down with her arms open wide. “Hey, baby.” She pulled him close to her, her eyes closed in relief. Danno had been granted full, temporary custody of him, pending this assessment. But she and Charlie had only seen their mother through agreements decided by Danno.

Grace enjoyed the setup, but she also understood why her mother was fighting it.

The look on her face as she held her son said everything she never seemed to say out loud.

She stood, Charlie still in her arms. “Hello Grace.”

“Hello mum.”

She held out her arm to Grace. Grace bit her lip, but moved into it, in a half, sideways kind of hug. Her mother seemed content enough with that, her smile wide.

“Daniel,” She said, civily.

“Rachel,” Danny greeted.

“How’d your session go?” She asked, eyes on Charlie.

“I told her about the tiger shark we saw on daddy’s boat!” Charlie exclaimed, the British coming out in him. Grace knew that it freaked people out. How she and Charlie almost switched accents, depending on which parent they were talking to. She had tried, this last year, to sound as American as she could, even when she was talking to her mother, but every now and then…

“Quite a tale, is it not?” She asked her mother, her accent thicker than usual.

“I think I’ve heard it every time I’ve seen him since,” She shook her head back at her.

They all stood, a bit awkward. 

“We should go,” Danny said, motioning towards the door. “Daisy’s waiting on us with Jack.”

“Right,” Her mother said, hugging Charlie close again. Then she let him back down and turned to Grace.

“I was wondering if you’d like to come to dinner on Thursday night, just the two of us, so we can talk.”

“Not Charlie?”

“No, just in case…” She eyed her brother, who was still raptly listening to the two of them. “…things get loud. Hopefully they won’t. I just want to talk with you about things.”  
Grace turned to her father; he was the one that had to grant permission, after all.

He shrugged, unfortunately. She already knew the answer. “It’s up to you, Monkey.” He was always doing that, giving her the chance to make a choice, especially when it was hard.

She bit her lip, watching her mother.

(Her father’s voice filled her head. He was talking her down from yet another aggravating phone call with her mother. _“Compromise, Grace. It’s the backbone of every single relationship. It’s hard when you’re out of wack and want to get back to each other. Compromise. You each get something you want, and everyone’s happier than they would have been otherwise.”_

_“Is that what you do with Steve?”_

_“Every day.”_

_“But you’re not out of sorts, not anymore.”_

_“True, but we still have to, or we’d get unbalanced and then things would be out of sorts. You’ve got to work to find the balance again. You can find it with mom again, I promise.”_

_“You sure?”_

_“You can do this.”_ )

“Okay,” She said. Her mother’s face lit up, not expecting Grace to agree. “On one condition.” She said seriously, holding her chin steady. She stared back at her, just as seriously, waiting for what she had to do. “You come to my Cheer camp awards ceremony on Wednesday. Parents are welcome to come. I’d like you there.”

Her mother’s smile came back tenfold. “Deal. Just text me the when and where. Of course I’ll be there.”

(She would be.)

~~~


	15. Chapter Twelve

~~~

_“Good afternoon, Grace.”_

_“Hey.”_

_Crossing of arms._

_A huff._

_A plop on a couch._

_“…are you okay?”_

_“They won’t even let me have my phone.”_

_“Who won’t?”_

_“Dads!”_

_“What happened?”_

_“I’m grounded._

_“You were fine on Monday.”_

_A rolling of eyes._

_“What happened?”_

_“It was just one little bonfire! I wanted to give Nahele a really neat birthday present, but I can’t work to have extra money yet, and I know that dads are tight on money so I didn’t want to ask them. There was a party he had heard about and so I thought… A date with Sam, you know?”_

~~~ ****

**Last night there was this thing**

****~~~

The seniors were throwing a party. They did it every year, a tradition that started off their last year for them. It was a bonfire on the beach and the whole school usually showed up. It wasn’t anything official, and even some of the kids brought boards and night surfed. Grace was warned early on not to go night surfing, at least, not without Aunt Kono and a dozen other adults, so she didn’t want any of them bringing boards.

But they did wear their swimsuits and floated around in the shallow bit for a while that night, with four dozen other kids, letting the light from the bonfire help them see, and the music from some band made up of some kids from school.

Earlier in the summer there was a party on the park beach down the ways from their back beach. She had talked Nahele and Sam into sneaking away and going and it was some kind of little kid’s concert and not at all what Grace was expecting.

(Sam and Nahele started dating after that, ducking their smiles every time they saw each other, ridiculous in that way that was hard not to be fond of. Grace didn’t count that day as a loss at all.)

This bonfire party had been what she had expected that day, though. A bunch of high schoolers having a good time and discretely passing around stolen bottles from their parent’s stashes. (She didn’t drink, and neither did Nahele from what she saw, but Sam did take a drink. She claimed she never had before and wanted to see what it was like. She only had the one sip.) But they floated around most of the time, their little group of three. Sam recognized some kids from her own school a bit into the party and went to say hi, leaving her and Nahele standing by themselves, keeping an eye on her.

“Happy Birthday,” She said leaning over with a smile.

“Thanks,” He grinned.

“You’re going to be my brother, like for real. With paperwork to prove it.”

His face fell. “If my father will sign his rights over.”

She petted his arm. “Steve and Danno will fight it if he doesn’t.”

“That doesn’t mean they’ll win,” He said a bit sad, staring absently at Sam.

She let the lull in conversation lull for a moment, because she was certain that they would, but that didn’t mean getting Nahele all turned up about it. Then Sam turned over her shoulder, eyes out for Nahele. When she found him, he lifted his hand up in a ridiculous little wave, goofy grin plastered all over his face. She smiled back, ducking her chin, and turning back to her friends.

“You and Sam, huh?” She teased.

“Shush,” He groaned. “We aren’t together. Not officially.”

“Yet.”

“Grace,” He whined.

“I bet you will be by the end of the summer break.”

The goofy grin returned to his face and Grace giggled. “You think?” He asked.

About that time, she heard a low, angry voice.

 _“Grace. Danielle. Williams.”_ It was her father.

Swiftly followed by an equally low, angry voice. _“Nahele. Awika. Huikala.”_

Then, the lowest, scariest voice of them all. _“Samantha. Lynn. Grover.”_

All three of them had tensed up their shoulders, at the growing silence of the crowd, the people that knew them turned to look at them. All three of them turned simultaneously with grimaces on their faces to see their angry fathers all wearing tactical gear, Steve even wearing his thigh holster. They were here on a case, then.

Of course.

“The SUV, all three of you, now,” Steve said, Commander face on, pointing up towards the road, not looking at any of them.

They went, quickly and without complaint, lowing their gazes.

Behind them, they heard Lou start yelling. The band had stopped playing because of it. “We are Five-0!” Some of the kids started to look like they were ready to start running. “We are here looking for a boy named-“

Grace didn’t hear the rest because she stupidly looked back, only to see her father glaring at her. He raised his chin and pointed again. She turned around, quickening her steps.

__~~~_ _

_“Sam got the worst of it. They made us take a breathalyzer test, right there in the SUV.”_

_“Ouch.”_

_“It was just a summer party some people from school were throwing. It’s not a big deal.”_

_“Then why’d you get in so much trouble?”_

_“…”_

_“Grace?”_

_“We lied about where we were. Said we were at each other’s houses watching a movie.”_

_“You’d think with the year you’ve had, you’d know better about lying.”_

_A pause._

_“That’s what Danno said.”_

_“What else did he say?”_

_“I couldn’t go out with friends for the rest of the month. Only Cheer and exercise with Steve. That’s a lot of summer to do nothing!”_

_“Well, you did lie, Grace. And your father has dealt with a pretty big one recently.”_

_A pause._

_“I know.”_

_Another pause._

_“Speaking of The Lie We Don’t Talk About. Mum talked to me about it.”_

_“Yeah?”_

_A nod. “She made us dinner, just the two of us.”_

_“I know, she was telling me all about it last Saturday. She seemed very eager. How’d it go?”_

~~~ ****

**Tuesday evening**

****~~~

Grace had actually never been here. After her mother and Stan separated, and she went on her sabbatical, Stan sold the old house. Her mother’s new condo (the third one since Easter, and maybe this one would stick) was still very posh, but it was nothing like two acres her old home sat on. It was close with other houses, and the landscaping was overgrown and wild – something her mother didn’t even let happen with their house in New Jersey. The yard was always on Danno’s to-do list; if he wasn’t catching bad guys, he was always seemed to be trimming bushes and raking leaves.

Danno pulled the car into the drive (shared with three other condos, it looked like) and put it into park. Grace bit her lip staring up at her mother’s door.

“You okay, Monkey?”

A nod.

“You were quiet on the way over here.”

“What if she asks me to live with her again?”

“Do you want to?”

She turned back to her father, “No.”

Danno studied her face for a bit, “If it would make you happy to be with her, then you don’t need to worry about me. Worry about you.”

“I lived with her for six years,” She told him. “I’ve only got five more until I’m eighteen.”

“So?”

“I’d like to spend that with you.”

Danno made a face, the one he’s adopted from Steve, where he kinda looks like he’s going to cry, but he catches himself at the last possible moment. He pulled her close and kissed her head.

“Okay, Monkey. Go on, or you’re going to be late.”

“You’ll be back at nine?”

“Me or Steve, yeah. We’re on a case right now, you know.”

“Kay. Thank you for taking off to take me, then.”

“Baby, I know this is hard,” He told her. “But I’m really proud of you for going. For compromising.”

She shrugged, reaching for the door handle, “She kept up her side of the deal.” She sighed, hesitating.

“You can do this, Monkey.”

__~~~_ _

_“What deal?”_

_“Danno’s been trying to get me to compromise with mum more often. She wants to do something with her; I ask her to do something for me first. I don’t want to do something with her; I’ll have to do something else instead.”_

_“That’s a pretty good system.”_

_A nod. “It’s been working, mostly. Sometimes it’s not pretty.”_

_“I bet. So what was your deal for this dinner?”_

_“She had to come to my awards ceremony.”_

_“Ooh, so she went?”_

_A nod._

_“Was it a good night?”_

_A grin._

~~~ ****

**Monday night, at the awards ceremony**

****~~~

“Are you nervous?” Nahele asked her. She was wringing the napkin in front of her.

“I don’t know why, but yeah,” She said. “I’m not going to win anything.”

Cheer Camp had been a highlight of every summer she had on Hawaii. Usually they have two sessions a summer, and because of Danno’s job, she got to do both sessions, got extra practice, got extra good at what she did. She got to know almost every Cheerleader on the island (mostly) and it was loads of fun.

This year, however, she’d only get to do the first session. Kukui High had their own summer regimen for most of July and August. She’d be busy with that, and she’d have to throw herself into making things right with some of the girls. They were still sour that their plan to humiliate her had turned bloody. It wasn’t Grace’s fault they were suspended and kicked off the squad for the rest of the year.

But now, the camp was throwing their awards party. A silly little thing they did, giving away best improved and brightest smile and the like. Everyone got a special, participation award which was all Grace had ever really gotten in the past. That and best back hand spring.

Danno had come to every single one. Her mother was experiencing the folding tables and plastic ice cream cups set up in the middle of the yard for the first time.

“Why wouldn’t you win something?” Her mother asked. “All the younger girls got something.”

“Participation stuff,” She told her, rolling her eyes.

“Then why are-“

 _“Mother!”_ She berated. She only pulled out the ‘mother’ card when it was serious. It was like one of her parents dropping her middle name. To her credit, she stopped.

“Why are you so nervous, then?” Danno leaned forward and asked.

“I don’t know,” She answered, “I just am.”

All the eighth graders went through the motions, then the ninth graders, (Grace won “Keeps Her Stuff Neat the Best” award, which, _“Thank you Steve, for all the laundry and shoe shinnings.” “Navy regulations gets results, I’m telling you, even on Cheer uniforms and pom poms.” “Yeah, but we don’t have to live like Spartans.” “We don’t live like Spartans.” “Excuse me, have you seen our bathroom? I can’t leave a towel on the sink without getting a twenty minute lecture on mold!” “Would you two stop before you get too loud and we have to leave?”_ ) and once all the upper classmen got their various awards, Grace started to calm down. (The useless argument her dads helped, too.) They started handing out the big awards, the ones she’d never gotten, and she sat back with her ice cream. Whatever strange bout of anxiety she just had to suffer through had passed.

Eyeing her mother, she wondered if it had to do with the judgment that she was expecting. Her mother had sat quietly, clapped when appropriate, and even congratulated Grace on her award when she came back to the table.

She was trying. Grace had to give her that. It made her smile, a bit. Maybe she was even looking forward to dinner, even if she’d never say that out loud. She got her stubbornness genetically, you know.

That was another thing. Her father was doing really good around her mother. Like they were almost getting along. She knew they were both frustrated with the other, but they never lost it around Charlie (who wanted two scoops of ice cream because he had been good all day.) They were civil and nice and Danno defended Grace when necessary and her mother backed down when appropriate.

They were really trying, and with everything that had happened in the last year, they were obviously trying harder than they ever had since they were married. She resolved to try too. If they could sit at the same table with each other and not result to name calling and heated arguments then she could too.

“Grace Williams!” Her name was called while she was lost in contemplation.

She looked up, confused. “What?”

Steve and Danno were both wearing wide, excited smiles, and even her mother was giving her a face like ‘what are you waiting for?’

She looked up at the little stage set up at the end of the yard. “Grace, come on!” The coach called out. She had won a special award – a real one.

She walked up to the stage, unsure of what award she got. Her coach – the same coach she had at Kukui – was smiling happily, obvious she was proud that one of her girls was winning this award. Grace went through the motions of accepting the award (it was a trophy!) and shook her coaches hands before she started back to their table. She looked down at the little plague.

 _**“Most Valuable Cheerleader – Ninth Grade”**_ and her heart stopped.

That’s the highest award you could get besides “Best In Camp.” A MVP for your grade level. She looked up, realized she had stopped in the middle of the yard, and started up again.

There were pats on the backs and hugs and ‘alright!’s and plans to take everyone out to a celebration dinner. Grace felt a little bit of pride for herself. She looked up at everyone at the table, all wearing wide smiles for her, all proud of her too.

She turned to her father, “See? Transferring to Kukui was the right move for me.”

“I suppose it was,” Her mother agreed.

__~~~_ _

_“Your mother was okay with your transfer?”_

_“For the first time ever.”_

_“I’m happy for you, Grace.”_

_A satisfied smile._

_“So did dinner go just as well?”_

~~~ ****

**At dinner**

****~~~

They had sat in silence for a bit. Teriyaki chicken and rice was actually Grace’s favorite meal that her mother cooked. Danno couldn’t do it right, and she had yet to find a restaurant that made it like she was looking for. It was hitting the spot. A craving she hadn’t realized she had been suffering with.

The food was great. The silence was making it a bit hard to breathe.

“So what did you want to ask me?” Grace asked, in the middle of rolling around a piece of chicken in her sauce, mostly done with her meal.

Her mother had a bite halfway up to her mouth when she asked. She sat the fork down gently, and then took a steadying breath.

“I just…” She started, and had to take another breath. “I have come to realize that I have several things I need to apologize to you for.”

Grace sat back herself, ready for it.

“I’m sorry that I lied about Charlie,” She started. Grace felt relief. It’s all she’s really wanted in the beginning, an apology. A recognizing that she was wrong for what she did. Instead her mother had held her ground and defended herself. Grace thought it the worst thing she could have done and she looked her in the eyes and said it wasn’t, like she believed it.

“I thought I was doing what was best, but it wasn’t.”

Grace dropped her hands to her lap, already feeling the emotions bubbling. Her mother had said ‘several things,’ so she waited for her mother to continue.

“I’m sorry that I made you question your worth to me,” She continued. Grace already felt her eyes water. “I may have a mountain of issues with your father, but I will always care for him, and I will always love you. And your brother.”

Grace wiped at her eyes, not wanting to cry just yet, but her mother’s eyes were watering too. It would only be a matter of time before they both were messes at the dining room table, as long as her mother kept going in the right direction.

“I’m sorry that I left,” She told her. Grace lost it at that, letting out a whimper. She brought it back in as quickly as she could. Her mother reached for her, but fell short. She wasn’t finished. “I had about a thousand reasons for leaving, and most of them were selfish. We can talk about why I left if you want, but it wasn’t about Charlie or your father or Stan, and it wasn’t about you. I made it all about me. I promise I won’t leave like that without telling you, ever again.”

“It felt like you abandoned me.”

“I know, and I never wanted…” Her mother had to reign her own tears in. “I didn’t think. That’s what happened, I didn’t think.”

“What if you _‘don’t think’_ in the future again?”

She stared at her for a moment, thinking the scenario over. “I’d like to say ‘I won’t,’ but with my track record, I understand why you think that way.”

Grace didn’t say anything.

“I’m sorry I’ve made you feel that way. I can’t promise I won’t make a mess of things again, but I will promise to try.”

“…okay,” Grace said, still unsure.

“And finally,” She said, sniffing. “I’m so sorry that I wasn’t here for you this last year, when I should have been. I let all of this get in the way of being able to be your mother when you needed it. With your brother being sick, and with a new father, and new brothers. Your father says that you’re having a hard time with school, and that you went through your first break up, and starting your period, and a thousand other things I wish I could have helped you through.”

Grace was crying at this point, “You weren’t there,” She whined, feeling about as little as her brother, wanting nothing more than her mother. “You were wrong about so many things and you swore you that you were right and I was so angry and disappointed and disconsolate and you weren’t there and you were the reason why!”

“I know, I’m so sorry.”

Unable to wait any longer, like a flood gate had been opened and water came surging out, Grace lunged for her mother. It had been so long since she hugged her mother, and her tight arms around her, it felt good. It felt like-

__~~~_ _

_“…like the step in the right direction?”_

_A nod, a sniff, and a chuckle._

_“A huge step in the right direction.”_

_A tissue box._

_A blowing of the nose._

_“Why do I always cry when I talk to you?”_

_“You’ve needed to get things out for a long time. That’s what I’m here for.”_

_Another sniff._

_“I know that your assessment is soon, but… can I keep coming to see you?”_

_“I’ve actually already talked to your parents about that, so of course, anytime you need to talk.”_

_“I mean, the apologies were great, but we’ve got a lot to deal with and it’s so much.”_

_“I know. I think I can help, even if it’s just a third party listening.”_

_A chuckle._

_“So a break up, huh?”_

_“Oh, I’m not talking about Apane, or I really will cry, and then ‘Hele will come in here and be angry with you.”_

_“Well, you’re right. Let’s end things with something happy, then. Something good about this last year. Something just about you.”_

_“Okay.”_

~~~ ****

**Just after school was out for summer, like literally that afternoon**

****~~~

Danno was in the parent pick up lane as she and Nahele were walking towards the buses. Nahele saw him first.

“That’s either a good thing or a bad thing,” Grace said, anticipation growing in her chest. She looked up to Nahele, but he had a grin on his face, like he knew something she didn’t. “What?”

He motioned towards him, “You go. I’ll take the bus.”

“That’s ridiculous, what if something happened to Steve?”

“It didn’t, they would have taken us out of class like they did when it was Danny,” He glanced up to the Camereo with a smile. “Go. I know what it is.” She gave him a worried look. “And it’s not bad! Go! I’ve got to catch the bus.”

She watched him go before she turned back to her father. It was about that time that her father had gotten out and stood up, watching her from over the top of the car with a happy smile. He was wearing a t-shirt, professional clothes or stress nowhere in sight. Worry lifted off her shoulders and curiosity replaced it.  
He was wearing that smile more often these days.

“What are you doing here?” She asked as she approached. She adjusted her backpack, heavy from everything in her emptied out locker. “Nahele said he knew why, but didn’t tell me.”

“Where did he go?” He asked instead. “I could have taken him home first.”

“‘First?’” She repeated. “What are we doing?”

He smiled.

“Nahele took the bus home, what are we doing?”

“Get in the car, Monkey. I promise you’ll like it.”

She opened the door, eyes narrowed playfully towards her father. As she settled in her seat, she looked to her left and saw something she never thought she’d see in her father’s car.

Surf boards.

“We’re going surfing?” She asked excitedly as he lowered himself into the driver’s seat.

“Yep, just the two of us.”

“Really? You? Surfing without someone begging to go?”

He rolled his eyes, ducking under the boards that were stuffed in the car, back seat lowered, all the way through to the trunk. “Your swimsuit is in the back.”

“Why didn’t Nahele come with us? Or Steve?”

“It’s just the two of us today, Monkey.”

Then he lowered the windows, and she thought they’d head towards Waikiki, but instead he turned North.

“Where are we going?”

“Kono told me about a beach that’s gentle enough for me and my knee, but tough enough for you. We’re going there.”

“On the North Shore?”

“Yep.”

Together they rode – Danno driving, Grace controlling the music – the forty minute ride up to the North Shore. Grace enjoyed the view, and listened to her father’s horrible singing, and even played a Bon Jovi song for him, because she loved him.

They found her a bathroom to change in, and then Danno drove around for a bit, looking for a parking spot, and he made her lather herself in sunscreen, ( _“I can’t believe I let you talk me into a bikini.” “It’s a_ tan _kini, Danno.” “Whatever it is, I can see your tummy, and I don’t have to like it.”)_ and they made their way out to the beach.

The water was warm, and the sun was hot, but the breeze was nice and the sky was clear. Waves came in steady, not too big for Danno, who mostly belly surfed anyway, but just enough to give Grace a bit of a thrill, just like Aunt Kono promised.

They were sitting on their boards, taking a break, and just enjoying the up and down of the waves before they broke.

“Why are we out here, Danno?” She asked, ready for it. He was probably setting her up for some kind of big news. Nahele seemed to think it wasn’t bad, and Grace’s mind was only on one thing. “Are you going to propose to Steve?”

Danno turned to her quickly at that, his board rocking with him. She reached out to help him steady himself. “What? No. That’s.” He paused, looking out back to the beach, “That’s… That’s not why we’re here.”

“But you’re thinking about it.”

“You bringing it up just now is actually my first thought about it since we decided to adopt Jack, and we’re not here for that.”

She grinned, her father caught.

“Grace,” He warned.

“What?” She asked innocently.

“No Parent Trapping, that’s something I’ve got to think about and if I decide to, it’s got to be just the right… I gotta do it just right with Steve, okay?”

“Okay,” She rolled her eyes. Uncle Steve was better about the talking about his emotions thing, but he still had his moments.

“We’re out here because,” He said, changing the subject. “Because we’ve had a year full of stuff I didn’t think we’d go through this time last year.”

“Yeah,” Everything that had happened floating through her mind.

A wave came, raising them up, and left, letting them fall behind it before Danno spoke again.

“It’s been awhile since it was just the two of us,” He said, sounding a bit nostalgic. “I just… I wanted to make sure… That…”

“That I’m good?” She offered.

“Yeah. I mean, for years you had me all to yourself, and now you’ve got to share me with three brothers and Steve and I just… I worry. I’m a worrier.”

“I hadn’t noticed,” She deadpanned.

“You only get me one way, you know.”

“I know,” She grinned. “You don’t have anything to worry about.”

“No?” He asked, unsure.

She shook her head. “You’re happy. My little brother’s healthy, everything with Jack’s adoption is settled and now he’s my actual brother, you’ve all but healed up, I mean you’re surfing! And Uncle Steve is doing better than I’ve ever seen him, and I actually passed eighth grade.” She said the last bit, throwing her head back with thanks, tightening her fists in celebration.

He smiled at her, proudly. She soaked it up eagerly, the sun rays would just have to wait their turn.

“We’re good. The two of us, I mean.”

He reached out; his hands were wet with the sea and he squeezed her shoulder.

“I could use an allowance, though.”

He chuckled, “I’ll have to talk to Steve about that one.”

It was worth a shot.

They let the waves float them around a little bit longer, and she watched her father. He had his eyes closed, and his head thrown back face in the sun. Over the years he had been stressed and worried and hurting about mum and feeling guilty about Matty and a thousand other things. Watching him now you’d think he didn’t have a worry in the world.

“Yeah,” She told him, letting the realization of it settle inside her. “I’m good.”

~~~


	16. Chapter Thirteen

~~~

_“You seem happy.”_

_A shrug._

_“Things are good.”_

_“Your sister was just telling me you were grounded.”_

_A smile._

_“I am.”_

_“Why are you happy about that?”_

~~~ ****

**Last night, late at night, after Steve and Danny both read them the riot act and declared them under house arrest**

****~~~** **

It was true, he was in major trouble. He had ducked his head the whole time.

“We didn’t know where you were!” Danny had yelled. “What if we were on one of those cases that gets personal and we showed up here, to get you all somewhere safe, and you weren’t here?”

“I’m sorry, Danno,” Grace said meekly.

“Lou would have been in the same boat with Samantha, and you know they have a history with her being kidnapped!” Steve yelled.

“I know, Commander,” Nahele agreed.

“You could’ve been hurt, or drowned, or assaulted!” Danny yelled.

“I know, Danno,” Grace said again.

“There was drinking at that party. I’m proud of both of you for not drinking, but that party could have been broken up by HPD! You would have been processed and it would have been on your record. You know better than anyone what happens to foster-kids with records, Nehele.”

“I know,” He said. Grace looked over at him with worry, like she hadn’t even realized. Steve was right, and the fear of the missed, possible, wrench in his adoption smacked him on the back of the head.

Their parents both took a moment to step back from the dining table where Grace and Nahele sat awaiting punishment. They started doing that thing they do when they have a four hour conversation in about ten seconds of facial expressions.

Nahele counted the tick of the seconds on the clock in the living room.

One. Two. Three.

Danny rolled his eyes. They were going to bring the full force of the law down on their heads, he worried. Out past curfew, out in the water at night, surrounded by underage drinking.

They were going to get it.

Four. Five. Six.

Steve raised his eyebrows, did this weird thing with his neck.

Neither of them seemed to be the kind to raise their hands to their children. Nahele had heard horror stories though. He had been lucky in his foster-homes, and especially in this one, but he had heard horror stories. Of foster-parents that were terrifying when they got angry. Of foster-kids who broke rules and ended up with broken bones.

He didn’t fear that here. Not even with as much trouble as he was in.

Seven. Eight. Nine.

Danny licked his lips and nodded.

He wasn’t going to get kicked out. He was going to get in trouble, sure. Lose his phone, lose going out dirt biking maybe, lose working on the car privileges, and maybe even have to talk to Kamekona and request less hours. But he wasn’t going to get kicked out.

This was his home. He was certain. He was loved and cared for and wanted. They had screamed at them about the ways they could be hurt or taken away from them. Not for breaking the rules, or for being a bother, or for causing them any embarrassment.

He wasn’t worried or scared or planning on hitting the streets.

Ten.

Danny pointed at Grace first. “No phone. No internet. You can watch sports center or the news, but no television. You’ve got your summer reading list, you’ve got Cheer practice, and you’ve got your phone when you are not under this roof, but for the foreseeable future, you are an anti-social caterpillar locked up in her cocoon, you understand?”

“Yes sir,” Grace said.

“You will also have to tell your mother, in extreme detail, what you did. And you will accept any punishment, other than losing Cheer, that she thinks you deserve on top of the punishment we have set in place that you will accept without complaint.”

Grace gulped, but she nodded.

Then Steve turned on him. “Same boat. No phone, no internet. No sportscenter. No motorcycles, no working on the car, no helping Chin with his bikes unless I have cleared it. Other than your shifts at work, you are to be in this house, under house arrest, you understand?”

“Yes sir.”

“I’m also implementing strict Navy showers, and I will be timing them for the foreseeable future.” Grace looked up at Steve at that, ready to complain. Nahele shook his head at her, trying to save her. She headed his warning, thank goodness. “Three minutes, in and out.”

Nahele let out a chuckle at that. Grace was not going to survive.

“You will have extra chores. We will talk to Daisy about this, and you will listen to her intently, and follow every order, finish every chore she gives you, and if we hear that you were whining or complaining or dragging your feet about it, this grounding period will last well into the school year, do you both understand?”

“Yes sir,” They said at the same time.

“We will talk about how long this will last, but you don’t need to worry about that right now. Right now you are upstairs, in bed, sleeping.” Danny pointed towards the stairs, and they both got up to follow orders.

Nahele couldn’t help but smile.

“Why are you smiling?” Steve asked him.

He dropped the smile immediately and shrugged.

“Do you think this is funny?” He asked.

“No, sir.”

“Then why are you smiling?” Danny asked. Grace was already half way up the stairs, but had turned around to watch. Danny pointed up the stairs again, and she went quickly.

“I’ve never been grounded before,” He told them. Then his face kind of broke, unable to hold back the relief and gratitude. “Usually I’ve just been kicked out or threatened to be sent to juvie.”

Anger fell off his dads’ shoulders instantly.

Steve took his face in his hands, forcing eye contact. “You are in major trouble,” He started. “But you are not going anywhere.”

Nahele started crying at that, randomly.

Danny moved forward, his hand on his back, moving in a soothing motion. “Were you worried you were going to be?”

Nahele shook his head. “No. That’s why I was smiling. I wasn’t scared.”

Danny moved to hold him around his waist and Steve pulled him towards him. Nahele threw his arms around them and let himself cry for a moment.

He pulled back and Danny wiped his cheeks clear of tears, and Steve kissed his forehead.

“We love you,” Steve told him. Nahele stopped breathing. “I don’t know if we’ve ever said the words, but we love you.”

“We love you,” Danny repeated. “Don’t ever be unsure about that.”

“But I’m not,” He shrugged.

Steve smiled, “I’m glad. I’m so glad to hear that.” His own face broke and he was pulled into another hug.

“Does this mean I’m not grounded?”

“Nice try,” Danny said, after he had joined the hug, “But not by a longshot.”

~~~

_“So I’m in trouble, but I’m happy about it. It’s a weird emotion.”_

_“I think it’s a good one.”_

_“I do too.”_

_A pause._

_“Grace apologized this morning, she didn’t mean for us to get in trouble. I tried to explain that she gave me a pretty great gift, but I don’t think she understood.”_

_“Yeah, it’s different. So, other than the whole grounded thing – which actually sounds like a good thing, strangely – was yesterday good? It was your birthday.”_

_“Yeah, I’m sixteen, I can drive a car.”_

_Bouncing on the couch._

_A pause._

_“Legally.”_

_Another pause._

_“You know. If I wasn’t grounded and had a license.”_

_A laugh._

_“Did you get any presents?”_

_“Yeah, but the best one is on the back burner while I’m grounded.”_

_“What was it?”_

****~~~ ********

******Yesterday afternoon** ** **

********~~~** **

He got new baseballs. And new clothes. And brand new cleats instead of pawn shop bought. (They were mad at him for that one, back in the winter. He had been walking by, saw them, and bought them. He needed them for tryouts, and didn’t see what the big deal was. They were mad that he bought something they thought they should have bought him. _“That’s our job.” “I have money, it’s okay.” “It’s not okay. That’s for you to save and spend when you’re out with your friends! Not when it’s something for school like this.” “Baseball isn’t school.” “You know what we mean, Nahele.”_ ) He got a special BB-8 mug that Charlie had picked out (he had started drinking coffee this last spring, much to Steve’s worry.)

He got a poster of the Phillies, Danny’s favorite baseball team, a grin all over Danny’s face. Then he pulled out another poster of the White Sox, Nahele’s favorite team. (He hung them both up in his room, proud and excited for Danny’s face when he saw it.)

But the best, up until that point, was Chin’s. It was a small box, blue, no bigger than his hand. It looked like a jewelry box, and someone had made a joke about it. But inside was a single key. Nahele looked at it first, then up to a grinning Chin, confused.

“The roadster!” Chin filled in.

Nahele’s mouth dropped. Then he shot his eyes to Steve and Danny, who were both wearing worried little smiles.

“I cleared it with your dads’, and you’ll have to buy the last few parts, but I figure you’ve practically built that thing, it’s yours already.” Chin said, proudly. They had been working on it all spring and most of the summer so far. Uncle Chin was actually incredible. He had knowledge of the island, was teaching him some more complicated Pidgin, and best of all – he was a bike guy. “Of course, your dads have conditions.”

“Oh yeah,” Danny said, leaning back on the chair, throwing an arm around Steve. “So many conditions.”

“Conditions before you are even allowed on a bike,” Steve continued. “Conditions that we will write down for you and you will have to follow in order before you even think about driving your bike on a road.”

“Are you serious? You’re letting me have a motorcycle?” He felt his nose scrunch and he couldn’t help but bounce. That was happening lately. He’d never been this happy or secure and there were parts of him he was discovering for the first time.

Danny smiled fondly at him. “Yeah.”

“But if, once you have finished every condition, we ever catch you on it without a helmet, it’s gone.”

“Yeah, yeah,” He shook his head. “Of course!”

He stood up, excited, hugging his dads first, and then Chin, and he honestly didn’t know what to do with all this joy.

~~~

_“What an incredible gift!”_

_“Right? I mean, I can’t start on the conditions until August, but right? I might actually be on a bike by Christmas!”_

_“What are some of the conditions?”_

_“I have to buy the last few parts, and get brand new tires. I have to have it checked by a credited mechanic; I have to have a driver’s license, go to motorcycle classes from a place they approve of, plus lessons from Uncle Chin, and get my motorcycle license first. I also have to find insurance for it, even if they’ll pay for it.”_

_“That all sounds completely doable.”_

_“Right?”_

_“Do you call your dads’ dad yet? I noticed that the other day, when you were telling your story and they were in the room, you called them ‘Steve’ and ‘Danny,’ but when you talk about them together, you call them ‘dads.’”_

_A pause._

_“I haven’t used the d-words with either of them yet.”_

_“Any reason why not?”_

_A shrug._

_“I don’t… I mean, the petition for adoption has been posted, but I mean… I don’t want…”_

_“When did they post it?”_

_“Just this week.”_

****~~~ ********

******Just this week** ** **

********~~~** **

It was dinner. They didn’t have dinner together every night, because of the nature of their jobs, but they had dinner together often. More than other kids he knew, and they had breakfast together every morning. Nahele thought it was pretty cool, having dinner with a family that wanted him.

Then Steve slid a big brown folder towards him.

“What’s this?”

“Early birthday,” Steve said. “Kinda.”

“Open it,” Danny said, biting his lip.

Bending back the little metal tabs, and pulling out a decent chunk of paper, Nahele paused before he even had it out of the envelope.

******PETITION OF ADOPTION** ** **

“Really?” He asked. “Already?”

“We signed the papers with our lawyer today,” Steve told him. “That’s our copy.”

He kept pulling out, and at the bottom both of their names were signed on the dotted line. He was sure the rest of the stack had matching signatures and initials and Nahele didn’t know what to say.

“But my father…”

“He’ll be served with the notice in a couple days. That we have intent to adopt. It’ll be up to him what’s next.” Danny shrugged.

“What’s happening?” Grace asked. Nahele turned the papers around in his hands and let her read it. She turned back to Danny. “We’re really adopting him?”

“You didn’t ask her?” Nahele asked.

“Of course they did,” Grace said with a disappointed tone, like ‘come on, ‘Hele, you know better.’ “They sat me down about a week ago. I just didn’t know you had said yes too!” She shoved him lightly.

He grinned. “I should have talked to you.”

“Yeah you should have, you jerk,” She said, with no heat behind her words. He scrunched his nose as she shoved him.

“Sorry,” He told her.

“Oh, no. This is great!”

“But why is it up to his father?” Charlie asked, quiet this whole time. “Who’s being 'dopted?”

“I am,” Nahele told him, proudly. “Is it okay if I’m your big brother?”

“I thought you already were,” He said, confusion on his face. Nahele smiled.

“He is,” Danny told the boy. “We’re just making sure everyone else knows it.”

Charlie smiled widely up at Nahele. Nahele smiled just as widely back at him. He was his big brother. Looking between Grace, Jack, and Charlie it hit him. He had three little siblings. The paper in his hands were for Steve and Danny. So he couldn’t be taken away from them. But his siblings, they were his whether paper said it or not. It wasn’t just Grace, it was his brothers too. His eyes watered at the thought.

Jack took the moment to let out a little shout, distracting him.

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” Steve said with sarcasm, shaking his head. “How neglectful of me,” He dropped some more torn up food and mac and cheese in front of his baby brother. Nahele smiled fondly at him. “How dare I not have your second plate ready?”

The table laughed.

“He can have my fish!” Charlie offered.

“No he can’t,” Danny said back. “Because you’re going to eat it.”

Charlie pouted.

Nahele put the papers back in the envelope with great care. This was his future in his hands. He took his time closing the metal little clasps, getting up to set it on the desk with reverence. He looked up once he was done, the table watching him.

“What?” He asked. “I don’t want anything to happen to it. This is too important.”

“It’s fine, Nahele,” Danny tried to sooth him. “The lawyer has a copy too, you know.”

He wasn’t talking about a bunch of paper in an envelope, he was talking about the people sitting at the table in front of him, but he let Danny have the moment.

~~~

_“You’re doing really good since the decision, aren’t you?”_

_A nod._

_“I think that’s thanks to you.”_

_A shrug._

_“I only point out things people already know, but are just too scared to say it out loud.”_

_“Well, thank you, all the same.”_

_“You’re welcome.”_

_“I just, I remember thinking about those first few weeks, when everything was hectic.”_

~~~

******The busiest month of Steve’s life** ** **

********~~~** **

Nahele rooted around the kitchen while Steve and Danny argued how to build a shelf in the living room. The house was torn all up and Grace had more experience with the two of them arguing like they were.

( _“There is no rod ‘F.’” “There has to be a rod ‘F.’ Without the stupid ‘F’ rod the whole thing goes wobbly, like this.” “Don’t shake it, you idiot, you’re going to crack the wood where the screws are!” “That’s because we need rod ‘F!’” “I understand that, but there is no rod ‘F’ in the pile of crap that came out of this box.” “Well, we’ve got to find it.” “Yes, thanks Sherlock, I couldn’t have made that deduction without you.” “That makes me Watson, I’m Sherlock.” “No, I’m the detective, I’m Sherlock.” “But Watson is a doctor!” “You’re more like Moriarty.” “Moriarty, the bad guy?” “More like the thorn in Sherlock’s side.”_

It kept going all night. Eventually Jack could just sleep right through it, and even, sometimes needed it to fall asleep.

Nahele, at this point in time, had halfway realized that those arguments were how you knew the two of them were happy and good. January would come to teach him that. January was quiet and awful and it may have been 80 degrees outside but it was cold inside and way, way, way too quiet.

He had gotten used to the arguments and was happy when he heard them.)

Right now he was cooking dinner, because he wanted to steer clear of the living room, and other than the few bags of bottles and bottle warmer sitting on the counter, it was the only room in the house that hadn’t been torn up to be put back together.

He pulled out the frozen chicken strips Steve had started keeping when he came over during summer, hungry and bored. There were instant potatoes he could throw in the microwave and he roasted green beans next to the chicken, and went about pulling out plates and setting the oven and boiling some eggs because they were getting close to their expiration date, and then he threw together a big salad bowl like Steve did all the time, leaving it in the fridge, easy to access. Really, it was super easy, throwing this simple dinner together.

Steve was literally building him a room to live in, it was the least he could do.

But Steve was floored when Nahele announced that food was ready. Shook him in a side hug, proud and thankful. The four of them ate on plates around the coffee table, Jack still happily watching them through his play pen.

Charlie may not have been there, but that was kind of their first family dinner. And Nahele had cooked it.

Nahele ate fast and quick, like he used to, like he was worried that Steve would say that he made too much food, and that he should eat like he didn’t know if he’d have another meal in the morning and he sat back, waiting for the others to finish.

“Are you still hungry?” Steve asked. “There was still stuff in there when I left.”

“I ate. I’m okay.”

“Are you still hungry, though?”

He shrugged. “We can save it for later.”

“Are you still hungry?” He asked again.

Nahele didn’t say anything.

“If you’re hungry, go eat!”

“I don’t want to take too much,” He finally said. “I know food is a lot of money, and you’ve spent so much today already.”

Steve paused, fork still in his mouth. He chewed thoughtfully for a moment, studying Nahele. He shared a couple looks with Danny, but that was back when Danny was unsure just how involved with Nahele they wanted him to be.

He swallowed, then reached out for Nahele’s shoulder. “Listen to me. If you are hungry, I want you to eat. As long as you are with me, I never want you to be hungry.”

“It’s okay…” He shrugged.

“It's not okay with me if you're hungry. Do not worry about money or groceries or anything like that. I will sacrifice a lot of things before I sacrifice food and subject you to hunger. I don’t want you to be hungry ever again.”

Nahele sniffed. He felt Grace eye him, and then look down at her food. It was like she was realizing just how hard Nahele had it before he came to them. She looked angry, which confused Nahele at that point. He thought she was angry at him, but knowing her the way he would come to know her, he knew she was angry that the world treated him so badly. Danny seemed to notice, and ran a soothing hand over her back.

“Go get more food if you’re still hungry,” Steve told him again.

Nahele did as he was told, bringing back small portions of what was left.

(He would, in time, take two, large helpings every night, but he was still unsure that first night.

Steve wouldn’t let the fridge or cabinets go empty after that.)

_~~~_

_“I’m sorry you’ve suffered so much, Nahele.”_

_A shrug._

_“It happens.”_

_“But it shouldn’t.”_

_“I know.”_

_“It shouldn’t.”_

_“I know. But I have Steve and Danny now. And I know that even if the adoption falls through, they’re not going to let it get that bad again.”_

_“Good.”_

_A pause._

_“Thank you, again.”_

_“This, honestly, has been my pleasure.”_

_~~~_


	17. Chapter Fourteen Part One

Dr. Susan Harris had been a family therapist for sixteen years. She had private cases, sure. Families that came in, worried their divorce, or trauma, or a number of other things were bad for their children. Usually rich and powerful families who came in because it was expected thing to do, to rant about their ex-spouses without their children present, and as much as Susan wanted to help people, she had to admit that she took those cases because they paid the bills.

The cases she felt proudest about though were her state cases. They were hard and dark and sometimes the kids were in such horrible situations she just wanted to take them home and hold them close. Her wife wouldn’t let them become foster-parents, though. She claimed that she’d take home too many children, and then they’d have a house full, and too many mouths to feed, and Susan knew she was right.

She was very close to changing her mind on her concession to her wife though, after her latest state-mandated case.

When she saw four names on the order, she knew she was in for something huge. The Edwards-Tate-Williams-McGarrett case sounded like a doozy.

Four children, four parents. A mother who had abandoned her two children was back looking for custody of her children again. A step-father who has visitation rights to only one of his step-children. A father who had been divorced from his ex-wife for years, had a child with her while she was still married to her soon to be ex-husband who had been granted temporary full custody of their two children. He was a foster parent with another man he was currently in a domestic partnership with, despite the recent passing of gay marriage laws, and they had adopted another child together.

It was like a bad telenovela and she was kind of dreading the first day, despite her feelings on state-mandated cases.

But here she was, clearing the next appointment after her last session with the couple who wanted to make her change her mind on being a foster-parent, just so they couldn’t run off on her and leave her hanging.

Theirs was a refreshing story amongst all the pain and suffering she had sat through her entire career.

~~~

_“…so you can’t run off on me and leave me hanging.”_

_A pair of laughs._

_“Are you sure you really want to hear about the time I got tortured, Doc?”_

_“Tortured?”_

_“Yep.”_

_“Don’t leave out a detail.”_

~~~

Most things in Danny Willams’ life could be blamed on one of two people. Rachel Tate and Lt. Commander Steven McGarrett. He’d like to have the time to admire and contemplate the fact that the two biggest things in his life, the two biggest motivating factors in his life, were people he had both fallen in love with and had broken his heart, but he was busy being in mortal peril.

Though, in Steve’s case, it wasn’t entirely his fault Danny ended up heartbroken. He was messed up ten ways to Sunday so Danny still hadn’t given up.

~~~ ****

**It was back in March**

****~~~

This though? This had Kono Kalakaua written all over it. In red letters. Bright, neon red letters. In Time’s Square. On international television. During the Olympics, probably.

Then again, she had learned to chase down a suspect no matter what, even if that suspect was getting away on a boat. That leap was a move straight out of the “How To Be An Idiot Like Steve McGarrett Handbook” so really all things lead back to Steve or Rachel.

He jumped after her, because he couldn’t leave his partner hanging, he couldn’t. He’d been there too many times, a funeral for a partner because he wasn’t there, or he was stupid, or he didn’t have their backs. Grace, Meka, Matty… he couldn’t add Kono’s name to that list. He wouldn’t.

So of course he jumped after her.

But, of course, the bad guys had the boat already well out to sea by the time they had run out of bullets. And, of course, the bad guys had more than they did.

“Are you going to shoot us, or make us walk the plank,” Kono asked them, hands up and stone faced.

Nope, Kono Kalakaua. Bright, neon letters. Olympics. Check.

Danny made a little check movement with his finger with his hands up. He got a butt of a gun to the shoulder for that one, tiny, little move.

This was going to be a bad day.

~~~

_“You weren’t partnered with him, Commander?”_

_“I was on a reserves training week.”_

_“Oh, oh no.”_

_“Yep.”_

~~~

Steve got the call that Danny had been taken on his third day at sea. Chin had called his satellite phone and left a message. He was expecting it to be Danny – he always called when he was away, leaving some silly message that would make him smile. They were rocky, and Danny was doing his best to try to “woo him,” (Grace’s words, not his) and it was a bit heartwarming to know that, even if Steve never gave in, Danny wasn’t going anywhere.

It was Chin voice though, tight and already tired, and his smile fell.

_“Kono and Danny are missing. I’ll keep you updated._

BEEP

**“For your next message, press 1.”**

Steve pressed one frantically, hoping they had been found, or came walking in to headquarters, that it was Danny griping about Chin being a worry wart, or any kind of good news.

_“It’s bad, Steve. The dog attacks and missing people? We got a lead. Another girl came up missing and showed up dead in about twelve hours. But she had her phone on her, for some reason. We tracked her history to where they were holding people.”_

Chin paused.

_“It was a freighter in dock for refueling. A big one too. Kono put it together and Jerry was right, it was human trafficking. All Asian girls. So who knows how many they had that were undocumented. Kono said she counted six before he hung up. The freighter took off, and we sent the coast guard after it, but their search came up empty. The boat is fast, Steve. Faster than it should be, so they were lying about what they have on board._

_“We connected one of the guys that died in January in connection to all this to the marina where the boat took off._

_Kono and Danny were heading down there to ask questions when I got a call that they recognized one of the guys from the freighter. They didn’t call back after a while so we went down there too._

_“There were shots fired, apparently.”_

Steve’s stomach dropped. Someone was shot. Someone was dead.

_“We got the security footage. They jumped on a fishing boat leaving the marina, and now we can’t track their phones, the boat, nothing. We’re coming up empty at the moment. Steve. If you can, you need to come home.”_

Steve was on bridge with his superior officer immediately. The Admiral was a stern man; Steve had served under him, back when the Admiral was still a Captain and Steve was still just a newbie squid learning the ropes. He looked at Steve back then with little pride, having no time for the brass and remunerations that came with being an Academy Grad. All his enlisted men were the same to him, schooling or not.

At the time, Steve respected him for that.

Now, the man was losing points.

“Unless I get orders from someone higher up other than this ‘Five-0,’” He said it like it was a ridiculous name. Steve resented him immediately, but held it back. He was still his superior officer.

“Sir, this is my team, my men,” Steve tried to appeal to his leadership pride. “I need to go home.”

“We are halfway to South America, sailor!” The Admiral said. Steve felt his back straighten at the tone, muscle memory jerking him around against his will. “Do you just expect us to turn around for a local police matter?”

“Put me on a bird, then,” Steve suggested.

“We only have one helicopter on deck, and I’m not sending my only bird a thousand miles away for something that is not a Naval matter!” He leaned in to Steve, close, so others on the bridge couldn’t hear. Or, at least, the illusion of that. “What would happen if we had a medical emergency? The brass would have my head.”

“Then send for a bird to come get me. Please, sir. This isn’t just my team,” Steve tried again. “This is my…” Danny wasn’t anything to him. ‘Best friend,’ ‘partner,’ they just weren’t going to swing it with the Admiral. He knew the man too well. ‘Boyfriend’ wouldn’t swing it either. ‘Husband,’ might, but that would be a lie. He was listed as single on all the official forms.

“He’s the father of my children,” Steve finally went with. Several members of the bridge glanced his way, and the Admiral blinked several times, digesting that information.

This was the last way he thought he’d be coming out to the Navy.

“I understand, but I’m sorry, son,” The Admiral finally said, turning around, leaving Steve desperate.

“Don’t make me go over your head, sir!” It was loud, the whole bridge heard. The Admiral was a powerful man, and Steve just didn’t care.

This was his team.

This was Danny.

The Admiral marched back at him, hostility evident on his face, but Steve stood his ground like the SEAL he was.

“That,” The Admiral said, loud and angry enough that everyone on the bridge turned back to their assignments. The Admiral lowered his voice after that, “…is exactly what you need to do.”

“Sir?” Steve was not prepared for that.

The Admiral’s face did not change. They did not betray his emotions to the rest of the bridge, but realization set in for Steve.

Steve smiled slowly. The Admiral was saying he couldn’t let Steve go, but if he was ordered to…

“Thank you, sir.”

The Admiral nodded curtly once, and then he turned on his heels, back to his bridge.

Steve practically ran back to his quarters and dived for his satellite phone, the governor on speed dial. He had to act fast, he had drills soon, and not going would just make things worse.

~~~

_“Of course, because of time zones, I couldn’t get ahold of the governor until morning.”_

_“Oh, no.”_

_“Yeah. I had called Chin, telling him what I was doing, for an update. They didn’t have one.”_

_“Yeah, night one was fun.”_

_“I’m sorry.”_

_“This is the last thing from your fault, babe.”_

~~~

Everything in his life could be traced back and blamed on Steve, he realized, sitting with his hands and legs tied, mouth gagged, sitting next to Kono on the fishing boat going who the fuck knows where.

He used to blame being in Hawaii on Rachel, but no. He had a chance. A nice chance, once, to leave with Rachel, but Steve had to go all ninja and hold the governor at gun point and get arrested like the idiot he is. He was on Hawaii because of Steve.

Of course, the sun was going down around them and the only place he wanted to be in that moment was on Steve’s beach watching the sunset, watching the kids play in the surf, Steve handing him a cold beer, with Jack safe in his arms. Instead he was in this boat, had no idea where they were going, who they were, or what they wanted, and they had let them see their faces.

He was going to be sick, mouth gag or not.

It came up quick, and he leaned over, throwing up next to himself, through the gag. One of the men moved to pull it off him, so he wouldn’t drown on his own vomit. He got a punch to his right jaw after he sat back up for that one.

“Not so good with boats?” One of the men asked. He was scraggly, ugly, and wore no shirt. Or, maybe he did, but it was wrapped around his head, arms of it flopping around on each side of him.

“No, I’m good with boats,” Danny told him. “I’m just not good with not being able to see the horizon.”

“Well get used to it,” Said the good looking one. If punchy, gun happy, and raised nostrils were your type. “You’re going to be inside soon.”

A third guy threw a bucket of sea water at the sick, pushing it out the slit in the boat wall that kept the water from collecting on the deck. It probably had some kind of name, but Danny definitely didn’t know what it was. He and Kono both ducked from the water, tried to keep it out of their eyes and nose.

“For the smell,” A third guy said with a scowl. The men on the boat laughed in that ‘we’re bad guys but we all have a sequence of numbers after the word ‘goon’’ kind of way  
Next thing Danny knew, the gag was being forced back into his mouth and tied around his head, fresh with the delightful taste of vomit and seawater.

They were on the boat for another hour, it seemed. Headed somewhere north east, he deduced from the sun before it had gone down. There wasn’t anything north east until you hit the American West coast, and there was only so far a fishing boat could go before it ran out of fuel, so they had to be headed for a bigger boat.

A quick succession of thoughts ran through his head at that. A movie quote, _‘we’re going to need a bigger boat,’_ that huge Great White taking out a bite of the back of the boat, sharks, an erector set hanging from the ceiling over a little boy’s bed, a little boy he might never see again, a little girl- a family he might never see again, never getting to have a shot with-

He promised Steve he wasn’t going anywhere.

Danny squeezed his eyes shut at the anxiety of it all and kicked at the restraints on his feet at the thought he’d never see home again.

“Quit it,” Punchy yelled at him, pulling his hand back in warning, just itching to give Danny a back-hand.

Kono shoved him, and he calmed down. He needed to focus.

He needed to get his head off of his home and family, and back to how to get out of this.

He got the back-hand anyway.

Eventually the boats engines quieted and they slowed. Danny tried to look around, but got another back-hand.

“Eh!” Danny said against the gag.

“Stay still,” Shirtless ordered.

They slowed, and suddenly a large freighter, the one that had taken off from Oahu ten or so hours ago, (Danny didn’t know how long the sun had been down,) the one they sent the Coast Guard after. A little hope flowed back into Danny. There was still a chance they’d be found.

They made it around when the third guy, and Danny really needed to come up with a name for him, came towards them with a knife. He backed up, but Kono was holding her ground. If looks could kill, and all that. He cut the restraints around his feet first, and then Kono’s.

Kono threw her hands over his head and bashed it against her knee.

Guns were raised instantly. There were at least six guys on this boat, all different races, and all of them had barrels and military grade weapony pointed at them. Just who were these guys? Why were they keeping them alive?

Third guy stood up with a broken, bloody nose – and hey! Thanks, Kono, ‘Broken Nose’ it is. Broken nose, of course, threw a right hook at her jaw, throwing her into Danny.

“Bitch,” He shot at her.

She gave a face that would have been a kiss had she not been wearing a gag.

They wanted them alive for some reason, but not if Kono kept it up. It was his turn to nudge her.

 _‘Quit it,’_ He wanted to tell her. ‘Wait it out. Look for an opening. Save your strength.’ All things he was sure she wanted to tell him earlier when he had his moment that was on its way to a panic attack.

She seemed to settle after that, though. She was a stone, a warrior; she had survived three days at sea with just a surfboard and some rice. He wanted Steve by his side so bad, but if he couldn’t be stuck at sea with a Navy SEAL, he guessed being stuck at sea with a woman born to walk on it wasn’t so bad.

~~~

_“That was really poetic, babe.”_

_“Thanks.”_

~~~

It was actually probably better.

~~~

_“Thanks, babe.”_

_“It’s Kono.”_

_“…you have a point.”_

~~~

Shirtless, Punchy, and Broken Nose led them to the front of the fishing boat with no less than three shoves each. Kono even hit the railing of the boat with her stomach and whatever crossed through her mind made her throw a punch back, two handed and awkward because of her restraints. Punchy didn’t like her fighting back and threw a punch himself. She hit the ground hard, even with Danny charging one of the guys he had yet to give a nick-name.

Someone fired a warning shot into the water and things quieted down. There were screams from somewhere inside the cabin, all women. They must have been the women that Kono saw when she took off running.

A guy Danny hadn’t seen since the gun fight approached them. Tall and ten times scarier looking than his subordinates.

“The only reason you’re alive is because two members of Five-0 will fetch a pretty penny from someone,” He sneered. He got into Kono’s face, running the back of his finger down her chin. She held her ground, but Danny struggled against Punchy for it. “But I could do without a payday just fine. Remember that, meinu.”

They were shoved again, and Broken Nose pulled out his knife again. Danny braced himself, but he only cut the restraints on his hands, and then, before he cut Kono’s, said, “Punch me again, I’ll kill you.”

He snapped her restraints off. Even if he was being held by Punchy he would have backed up any idiot move she would have made. He was going to have bruises on his arms from Punchy’s hands holding him back. She didn’t move to punch anyone this time, thank god. She only started rubbing her wrists and kept her impressible murder eyes on Broken Nose.

“Climb,” Boss said to Danny, pushing on him. Punchy walked him over to the side of the freighter. There were metal rungs on the hull that ran all the way to the deck of the freighter. Danny looked over to Kono, but got another back-hand for it. “Climb! Or a bullet to a knee is going to make the climb more painful for you.”

He eyed Kono, who nodded at him in solidarity. Danny reached out, and as he did, the fishing boat hit some kind of wave and the boat moved away from the freighter, but Punchy shoved him (and really, these guys were too shove-happy) and he was knocked into the water.

Next thing he knew, he was underwater, the fishing boat coming straight towards him. He was going to be crushed if he didn’t do something. He dived for his life and barely made it. He watched, from under the boat, how the boat rammed into the freighter. It moved away again as he swam for the back of the fishing boat.

That was a mistake.

Boss already had his gun on him when he emerged.

“So you’re a swimmer, but you can’t swim back to land from out here,” Boss said. “Swim back to the ladder.” Danny didn’t move, treading water, but he saw Kono was several rings up, looking relieved to see Danny had made it. He knew he’d have to comply.

Boss, of course, fired another warning shot.

Danny pulled the gag out of his mouth, “Alright, alright! I’ll go.” Then, with as much venom as he could conjure up, “Control your boat.”

“Just swim!” Boss wasn’t a patient man, then. He held his gun on Danny the whole time.

He had made it around, pulled himself out of the water by the first ring, and started making his way up. Kono was looking back over her shoulder at him.

“I’m fine, keep going!” He yelled at her.

She started again, reluctantly.

Behind him, the women from the cabin were being forced to climb as well. Danny wondered just how many women they had stolen like they were a candy in a drug store. If he didn’t hate them before, he loathed them now.

Shirtless was assaulting one of the women, pulling at her dress, and another one of the girls defended her, pushing at him. At least some of them weren’t going down without a fight.

She, of course, hit the deck after a painful looking left hook.

“Hey!” Danny yelled down at them, halfway up.

“Go!” Boss yelled, pointing his gun at him.

Danny went.

At the top, he pulled himself over the railing of the deck, eyeing Kono who already had her hands up. There were two dozen men, all different races, all with various types of machine guns, and all of them pointed at the two of them.

“A man?” One of them asked, “He’s not any good to us.”

“They must have brought him for some reason,” Another said to him.

“He looks like a cop. Cops make things messy,” The first one said.

The first woman from the cabin had made it over the top and joined them.

It was then that another man made his way out of inside of the freighter. He was white, blond, posh, and complete with a blue suit and shiny gold cufflinks that Danny could see from forty feet away. So this was either a client or Boss’ Boss.

He made his way across the deck, ignoring most of the machine gun men, as the rest of the women made it over the edge.

“So you’re the Hawaii Five-0 officers,” He said, looking over Danny like he was a piece of meat. He turned to the women. “Which one of you is the woman?”

All the women stayed quiet. Danny had to give it to them, they were brave women.

Of course, about that time, Broken Nose made his way over the edge. “That one,” He sneered at Kono.

Cufflinks studied Broken Nose’s nose. “Her handy work, I presume.”

“Sir,” He said, lowering his gaze.

Then he turned to Danny and Kono, “I’m sure you’re smart enough to figure out what our little business is.”

“You sell people,” Kono said with disgust.

“I sell product,” He moved into her face. “Supply and demand!”

“Kidnapping and extortion,” Danny corrected. “You’re a criminal.”

“I’m a businessman,” The man said, this time moving into Danny’s face. “You cops all think you’re so above it all.”

Danny rolled his eyes. He hated men like this, men who thought they were rats who found a way to get the cheese without triggering the traps. Danny sniffed, trying to give off an aura of courage, but Cufflinks did nothing.

There was brief period where no one moved, and Cufflinks waited, “What are you waiting for!” He rose his voice. “I believe it’s time for shift change. Drop supplies and go!” Several of the men jumped to action. Then he looked to Danny and Kono, but he didn’t speak to them. “Show them to a room, put them together. They’ll sell better as a packaged deal.” He grinned slowly, “But let’s see how well two of them last on one person’s rations.”

Broken Nose pulled on Kono, and Punchy, who Danny didn’t even notice had made his way to deck, grabbed Danny by the arm and practically threw him. He lost his balance, his wet shoes slippery on the metal deck, and he hit the ground. The machine gun men all laughed that stupid group goon laugh as Danny righted himself.

They led them to a shipping container; all the women marched behind them. Between containers, Danny got a look at the bow of the boat through a tunnel in the superstructure. He could see a helicopter. That was good news. Kono turned her head towards him, then towards the helicopter. So she saw it too, good. Danny watched over his shoulder that the women were all being stuffed into individual containers. Then Kono and Danny were shoved into their own dark, damp container. Broken Nose smirked at them before he slammed the doors of the container on them.

This wasn’t good.

~~~

_“Of course, it was about to be my worst nightmare part two.”_

_“Part two?”_

_“I lost a partner, once. Her name was Grace. Grace is named after her. She died because of me.”_

_“Danny…”_

_“She did. It was that day. I was facing what was possibly Worst Day of My Life Two: Revenge of the Pirates.”_

~~~

Kono kicked the container’s wall as Danny found a battery powered lamp and turned it on. There was a pallet in the corner, a couple crates of what looked like food and water, a grate at the top of the wall, too high for Danny to look through, and an angry Kono, hurting herself kicking the container’s door.

“Hey, hey, hey,” He stood and reached out for her, trying to calm her down. “Save your energy, okay?”

“I know, I just…”

“I know.”

She slid down the wall in defeat and Danny moved to sit next to her.

“So it’s pirates,” She said.

“Yep.”

“We’re so screwed.”

“Hey… hey we are going to get out of here. There’s a helicopter, we could use that. Plus, we’ve got Chin and Lou on the case; they probably already know we’re gone. And if they know we’re gone they’ve already called Steve and Steve probably has half the Navy looking for us by now.”

~~~

_“Oh, man, I wish.”_

_“I thought you were calling the governor.”_

_“I was.”_

~~~

“He’s not answering, Chin. He’s in Washington in some kind of special meeting.”

_“Yeah we learned that this morning, Lou went to his mansion. What are you going to do?”_

“I have to go do some night drills because the Admiral can’t break protocol, and this is ridiculous! I’ve called everyone I can think of, Joe, a couple Team Guys I know, I even called the last known number of my mother! I need you to keep trying the governor, get him to pull strings, and get me out of here. I’m going crazy that I can’t do anything!”

_“I know Steve, if anyone knows, it’s me. Those are our best friends out there. Our family."_

They paused in their conversation.

“I know, Chin. Any leads? Any at all?”

_“…no.”_

Steve hit his locker with the palm of his hand in a fit of anger. “Keep working, Chin.”

_“I’ll call with anything I find out.”_

“Thanks, Chin.”

Steve hung up and ran his hands through his hair. His quarters were tiny, but private; the perks of being an officer. He let himself have a moment of absolute panic. These were human traffickers and they were smarter than any of them thought. Which meant that either Danny and Kono were dead, or they were being sold off, and Steve didn’t know which was worse.

His heart hurt, and he felt his eyes water. He tried to keep it quiet. His quarters were private, but not sound proof. He let out several silent sobs, and then kicked himself for mourning.

They weren’t dead.

They couldn’t be.

The day Kono graduated from the academy he told her that they’d always do everything they could to protect her. Over the years he learned, close up and often, that she didn’t need protecting. The memory washed over him anyway and he smacked his locker again.

He didn’t dare think about Danny. He couldn’t. Instead he thought of a little girl on a swing, waiting for her father to come home.  
Then he pulled out his phone and dialed another number.

_“Uncle Steve! Do you know anything?”_

So someone had told her. “No, sweetheart, I’m sorry.”

_“Is he going to be okay?”_

Steve paused, bit his lip, and willed himself not to lose it. “We are doing everything we can. You know I’m not going to stop until I find him.”

 _“…I know.”_ Then, _“I called mum. I thought she should know. That maybe she’d…”_ She let herself taper off.

“Yeah? How’d that go?” Steve knew that Rachel leaving and being gone and leaving them all in the dark was a sore spot for her. He knew she blamed herself.

 _“She didn’t answer.”_ She sounded so small and so meek. Steve wanted to gather her up in his arms and tell her that everything was going to work out. Except he didn’t know if things would work out. Her father was missing and her mother was MIA, and Steve was just sitting in his quarters trying not to cry.

“Gracie?

 _“Yeah?”_ It sounded like she was about to cry. Steve knew how she felt.

“This is me hugging you, okay?” He said, feeling helpless. He hated feeling helpless, like everything was out of his control. He was about to snap, march up to the bridge, and commit mutiny, all for the sake of this little girl. “You’ve got me, okay? You’ve always got me.”

_“I know.”_

“I need you to watch out for your brothers, okay? They aren’t as used to this as you are. Okay? You can do this, we’re going to get through this.”

 _“…okay. Right.”_ Her voice was strong and certain, like she was happy to have marching orders.

How he hated that she was used to this.

~~~

_“I didn’t know that you and Grace… You didn’t have to…”_

_A shrug._

_“Your kids are my kids.”_

_A fond smile._

_A sigh._

_“I ran drills after that. I couldn’t do anything and I…”_

_A hand squeezing another._

_“So. What happened next, Detective?”_

~~~

It had gotten cold. The metal of the container was cold, the night, ocean air was cold, and it didn’t help that Danny was already shivering from being wet. Kono had already wrapped the one, grimy, (and he was pretty sure that was blood)y blanket from the pallet around him, but it wasn’t enough.

“You need to eat,” Kono said, handing him some jerky from the crate.

“We’re going to share,” He said stubbornly. “We’re going to need our strength if we’re going to get out of here.”

“We’re not going to get out of here if you get pneumonia,” She said, sitting down next to him, letting him have some of her heat. He was incredibly thankful for her. She held out the jerky again. He grudgingly took a bite.

“Happy?”

“Yep,” She told him. Then she sniffed. “I had a fight with Adam this morning.”

He looked over at that. “About what?”

She leaned away from him, digging around in her front pocket. She pulled out a piece of paper, folded in half. Holding it out in front of her, she sighed. “This.”

She handed it back over to him. He took it, unfolding it, already having a suspicion…

It was a sonogram. His mind went to that fateful day in September all those years ago. Being held hostage, being helpless against their captors, his daughter’s first picture being torn up in front of him, Grace dying beside him while he fought against the restraints on his hands. His stomach tore up at the thought. This couldn’t be that day 2.0. He couldn’t let it.

He jumped in the boat because of that day. He couldn’t… He looked up at Kono, worried. He was not going to repeat that day. It wasn’t just his friend – his sister – it was his niece or nephew. He looked to her stomach… no wonder she had gotten angry that she hit her stomach earlier. She was already so protective of her child.

“We found out this morning. He wanted me to tell all of you right away, come out of the field-“

“You should have,” Danny said instantly.

“Please don’t…” She pleaded. “…I wanted to wait, just a month or so, to make sure it stuck. I have a couple cousins who’ve had problems…”

“Kono…”

She rolled her eyes, throwing her head back against the wall of the container with a bang. “Adam was right.”

“We’re going to get out of here,” He told her. “We’re going to get out of here and you’re going to be a mom and I’m going to have to fight Chin for the ‘Favorite Uncle’ title.”

She smiled at that, so Danny figured he succeeded in lifting her up. She looked surer after that, like she had one more reason to escape. He handed her back the jerky.

“Oh, don’t be sexist,” She rolled her eyes.

“How is making sure my pregnant friend is getting proper nutrition in any way ‘sexism?’”

“I’m not that pregnant.”

“Pregnant is pregnant!”

“Danny, if you get sick-“

It was at that moment that the locks from the outside started grating against metal, and they both stood up quickly, the blanket falling off of Danny’s shoulders. Danny stuffed the sonogram into his pocket. They couldn’t know she was pregnant. That’s the last thing they needed.

Danny resolved, then and there, he’d find a way to take the brunt of the beatings they were sure to get.

The doors swung open, there was Shirtless (who had put a shirt on, actually) and Broken Nose (who’s whole face was purple and swollen) holding guns on them. They both raised their hands.

“Come on,” Shirtless said. “Boss wants to see you.”

They were shoved again, and walked around containers to the steps of the superstructure. Then they were lead through tiny hallways and Danny had to fight the anxiety of small spaces. He had done okay in the container, proud of himself for that even. But in these tight hallways he knew he’d never be able to be a sailor.

The maze they walked through, through passageways and up several sets of stairs, was probably to get them turned around so they couldn’t escape easily. They succeeded.

They were lead to a room a little bit bigger than the container. It was some kind of mess hall, up high, with windows all along one side. They had pushed the tables and chairs aside to one wall except for two shiny metal chairs. Danny’s stomach dropped at the familiarity and he struggled against Shirtless’s hands in instinct. Punchy, who met them in the dining room, lived up to his nick-name sake. He punched Danny square in the kidney and Danny doubled over, having lost his breath.

“We might have to keep you alive,” Punchy said. “We can still dance, though, pretty boy.”

“I know I swing that way,” Danny started, breathing labored, trying to bring all the focus onto him and away from Kono. “You’re just not my type.”

His other kidney got a nice matching pounding for that one.

“Now, now,” Came a voice through the same door they walked through. It was Cufflinks, sans suit jacket this time, “That’s no way to treat our guests.”

“Right, I have to say, the room accommodations are getting a low review on Yelp. I’m not going to mention the review I’m going to give the staff here out loud; my mother raised a gentleman, even if it’s clear that their mothers didn’t.”

Punchy, then, went for the kill. He may not have known it at the time, though. He stepped on the back of Danny’s knee, his bad one because he was lucky and the universe looked out for him, and he went down with a yell. There was a pain, a familiar one that radiated down his leg and up into his thigh. It was the ACL. (He had torn it in high school at a baseball game where there was a college recruiter watching because he was lucky and the universe looked out for him.)

He was not going to be able to run, if they needed too.

“Danny!” Kono yelled out, and moved like she wanted to go to him, but Broken Nose held her close.

Punchy seemed to notice that it was a particularly sufficient way to make him hurt. He was smirking at him as he pulled him back up to stand. “Got a bad knee, pretty boy? I can make it worse.”

“I already told you, you’re not my type.”

“What?” He asked, momentarily confused.

“No way I’m going down on my knees for you.”

He was hit in the knee again, and if it wasn’t torn before, it was now. He let out a loud scream, and he was lucky and the universe looked out for him because Danny could already feel the pain his knee was probably going to go through.

“Please,” Cufflinks said. “Have a seat.”

They were shoved into the two chairs and then Broken Nose went through the motions of tying their wrists to the arms.

This was a very familiar situation.

“I thought you wanted to sell us, what else do you want from us?” Kono asked, letting Danny have a moment to catch his breath.

He smiled like the rat Danny knew he was. He leaned took a step forward and began working on his cufflinks, “I want to know how much you know.”

~~~

_“About what?”_

_A shrug._

_“Their operation was actually quite a bit bigger than we had thought. We’ve apprehended three other freighters like that one, but we know there’s at least four more, all over the pacific. They went underground after our big bust.”_

_“We’re still tracking down members of their organization.”_

_“Oh, wow.”_

_“Yeah.”_

_“So did you ever get off your ship, Commander?”_

_“Eventually, but it felt like the longest day of my life.”_

~~~

He was going to commit mutiny, he was sure of it. There were a couple other SEALs on board; he could probably get them to follow his orders. He couldn’t do it to the Admiral, not after he had given him permission to go over his head.

The man had also pulled him aside during one of his drills (he could do it in his sleep, but he was so worried about Danny that he actually had to force his mind back onto the tasks at hand) and asked for a status update on his team.

He had no status update. He knew that Chin and Lou were trying the governor every chance they had. Steve was grateful, but he was about to steal a bird and become a deserter if that’s what it took. The other men had learned what he was going through, and mostly stayed out of his way.

The battery on his satellite phone was getting a work out with him in his quarters every chance he had, making call after call.

“Please tell me you have something on the governor, Chin.”

_“He’s on a plane right now; he’ll be back in Hawaii this afternoon. He’s going to call in your reservist status, make you active duty.”_

“Good.” A SEAL on active duty in international waters had a lot of authority, way more than he had as a reservist.

_“Something else, Steve.”_

“What?”

_“I got ahold of Catherine.”_

Steve didn’t say anything. He actually felt nothing, and that was what shocked him. Of course Chin would call her. She had contacts in some pretty powerful places. There were a lot of strings she could tug that even the governor couldn’t.

“And?”

_“She’s calling a friend. She’ll get back to us.”_

“Good.”

_“Are you okay?”_

“Anything to find them, Chin.”

_“I mean with being stuck on a boat.”_

“Oh, no. I’m contemplating desertion.”

-

_“…Williams. Leave a message, I’ll get back to you.”_

“Danny… Danny I know you don’t have your phone, I just… I needed… I need you to be okay. I need you to come home. You promised… You have kids, Danny. We have kids. They’re going to need you. They’re goin- I’m going to need you. I’m so sorry I’ve-

Just be okay.”

-

“No, go to school, listen to Daisy.”

_“Commander-“_

“Please, Nahele. I need to know you are safe and okay.”

_“I need to know the same thing about you.”_

Steve’s heart hurt. There was a reason he never got too tangled up with someone while he was on active duty.

There was Catherine… and he doubted she’d ever not take on the challenge if he was in danger. He’d do the same for her. But they... he was an idiot for ever buying that ring.

They could fall into each other; they once upon a time could probably even had made each other happy being this adventure, rough and ready couple. A couple that jumped into missions in dangerous locations because it was the most excitement they ever had with each other.

You know, if Steve hadn’t come to realize he wanted something else.

He had friends in the service, sure. Freddie was the brother he never had and his family opened their arms out to him in a way he had never experienced before. And didn’t experience again until…

Until he was sitting in a basement, surrounded by forty loud, brash, over enthusiastic Williams-es.

Nahele’s face that whole Christmas trip felt like looking in a mirror. He was excited and overwhelmed and humbled and thrilled at this loud, happy family throwing jibs at each other quicker than he and Danny do. (He thought, once, that Danny arguing was what made him like the man. Imagine thirty nine others just like him and Steve was delighted.) When he was on active duty, he had friends, he had Cath, but he never even entertained the thought of having a child. He couldn’t do that, wouldn’t do that, to a child.

His father had turned him out at fifteen. Nahele had been suffering on the street. It was like a switch inside Steve had been thrown. That’s why he bought that ring. Because Nahele sat in his office, sad, hungry, scared, and feeling everything Steve felt when he was his age. He felt a connection with the boy immediately.

He didn’t know it then, but it was because he was always supposed to be the boy’s father.

Something inside Steve had changed that day, something visceral and primitive. A longing he didn’t recognize and the moment Catherine had shown up on his beach he knew he wanted the house and the spouse and the two-point-five kids and the mess and the worry and the heartache and everything that came with having a family. He knew that now, now that had experienced…

Catherine had not felt that switch. That was okay. That’s just who she was. He didn’t want to change her.

 _‘To be needed,’_ She had told him. He was certain that they could have created a life where she would be, but she would not be happy with his idea of what that meant, and he wouldn’t be happy with her idea of what that meant. It was a different kind of need. The kind of need that his own mother had left him for. He tried not to think about it.  
Instead, he thought about his kids. Steve had let two boys into his life, into his heart, then Grace, then Charlie, and all he had to do was say ‘yes’ and he had Danny. Everything he didn’t realize he wanted only eight months ago.

He was a complete idiot.

 _“Commander?”_ Nahele asked.

“I’m here, Nahele. I’m here, and I’m not going anywhere.”

-

_“…Williams. Leave a message, I’ll get back to you.”_

“I’m an idiot. I’m a huge idiot. I just hope I’m not too late.”

~~~

_“Hey. Hey. You weren’t.”_

_“I know. I just…”_

_“I know.”_

_..._


	18. Chapter Fourteen Part Two

_…_

_“You want me to keep going, babe?”_

_“Sure.”_

~~~

All things led back to Steve or Rachel, but honestly there could be a serious argument made that all things led back to Ricky Bonaducci. Ricky Bonaducci was a sixteen year old boy, at the time that Danny met him, at least. Danny was sixteen too.

Danny was sixteen and well on his way to a rough decision between following his heart and being a cop or following his father and being a firefighter. It was a decision that was coming up quick for Danny and it freaked him the fuck out.

Ricky Bonaducci taught him that life was only worth living if he followed his heart. He followed his heart all the way into the woods just outside their Boy Scout Camp site with him and let him stick his tongue down his throat. In hindsight, it was a horrible kiss, but they were both sixteen and he was kissing a boy for the first time so Danny gave sixteen year old him some credit. He had denied he liked boys for years, even though he knew that he did. He liked girls too, just fine. Girls got him going just as much as boys did and that was the problem; why couldn’t he just make up his mind? Or, well. Why couldn’t his dick make up its mind?

Hindsight aside, sixteen year old him thought it was the greatest kiss anyone in the world would ever experience. He had a desperate crush on Ricky for months, and he had just learned that maybe it was reciprocated over a rack of smuggled baby back ribs, and he was saying all these wonderful things about acceptance and the future, and holy hell that was his tongue.

Of course, because he was lucky and the universe looked out for him, their troop leader had taken this moment to stumble out of camp looking for the bathroom and found them against a tree instead.

They were kicked out of the Boy Scouts and Ricky’s parents moved them to Philadelphia and he never saw him again. Danny was miserable for months. At least, until his parents tried to cheer him up by saying he could bring a friend to their annual trip to the cabin on the beach and his best friend Billy drowned while Danny watched. Then his fifteen year old sister announced she was pregnant and he became an Uncle and everything in Danny’s life felt like a rollercoaster. With no seatbelts. Going way too fast. As the ride guy who was getting paid minimum wage to not know anything about the ride chewed bubble gum and ignored his screams of terror.

On further contemplation, Ricky Bonaducci may have saved his life too, because he gave him the courage to be himself. Policeman and bisexual and outspoken and fighting the good fight all in the same go. He would have been so miserable doing anything else, being anything else.

But, like Rachel and like Steve, he had loved Ricky (in that sixteen year old, ‘holy shit your hands are under my shirt, will you put them in my pants’ kind of way, but it still counted) and they had all broken his heart in some form or another.

So Ricky totally needed to be added to the list.

Because if he had never met Ricky, he’d be safe and a firefighter in Jersey, pretending he was straight trying to impress and live up to his extended family’s expectations and reputation. But if he had never met Ricky, he’d never be a cop, and if he was never a cop, he’d never have met Rachel, nor had Grace, and if he had never met Rachel and fallen so deeply in love with his daughter, he never would have met Steve.

So all things in Danny’s life could be blamed on Ricky Bonaducci.

“Who’s Ricky Bonaducci?” Kono asked.

He looked up at her. He was lying on the pallet in the corner of the container, trying not to move too much because his abdomen was a Jackson (and oh, how he missed Jack) Pollack of bruises, and he was sure that his knee had swelled up to twice its size. They had worked on them for hours, Danny throwing insult after jib at them, and them not getting anything out of them. They didn’t know anything; they had barely known that people were going missing. He shivered and he hurt all over again and he may have had the starts of a cough. He was shivering too much, so the whole ‘don’t move’ business wasn’t really working for him.

Of course he had caught a cold, stupid Ricky Bonaducci.

“What?” He asked her.

“You said ‘Ricky Bonaducci.’ Who’s that?”

She was wiping at his forehead with some kind of towel, worry all over her face. Kono was great. Kono would be a great mom. Was going to be a great mom.

“He’s a boy,” He grinned. “Was a boy. He was my first kiss.”

She grinned down at him at that, tipping the water over the towel into a bowl. He watched, knowing she was both preserving water and trying to help him out.

“Why are you thinking about your first kiss, Daniel?” She teased, pressing the towel to his head again. It felt cool against his skin. Too cool. He viciously shivered.

He grinned at the thought of his first kiss, then felt where his lip was burst pull and he grimaced. “I can blame everything in my life since I was sixteen on him.”

“Not Steve?”

He chuckled, then his breath caught in his throat and he had to cough it out, causing his abdomen to contract and he let out a yelp of pain.

“You really shouldn’t have taken the beating for me,” She told him. She had a black eye, a few cuts on her arms, a busted lip herself, probably a concussion or two from Punchy showing them just how punchy he could get… but he never punched her stomach, and that was what Danny was aiming for.

“Of course I should have,” He said again. He reached out from the nasty blanket to grasp her knee. “You’re going to have a baby.”

She stopped her motions, her face tearing in half with tears. “Right.”

“You’re going to be a great mom, Kono,” He said, closing his eyes at another round of chills. It was hot in the container; metal box and heat from the sun did not a cool environment make, but Danny was shivering. He had a fever for sure.

Another round of coughs racked him and he coughed up phlegm, almost gagging on it. He spit it out instead, another gross bodily fluid on an already bodily fluid entrenched mattress. He started wheezing after that, unable to get a full lung of air.

“Ugh,” He moaned, rolling so he was flat on his back. His knee screamed at him, but breathing took precedence, sorry knee.

He dropped his mind back into those New Jersey woods, back to when 5’5’’ meant ‘short’ but not ‘the shortest.’ Ricky was taller than him, a tall, lanky thing that had a grin that meant Danny was going to be pulled into some kind of trouble.

The grin on his face transformed and it was Steve’s grin.

Wow, he had a type.

“That first kiss, though…” He said, opening his eyes again. Kono was staring down at him with a fond smile. “…I gotta get back to him, Kono.”

“Who? Ricky?”

“No. Steve,” He told her. “I’ve got to get back to Steve. I promised him… I promised I wasn’t going anywhere.”

Resolve crossed over her face. “You aren’t. We’re going to get out of this; you’ve just got to push through the pain.”

“Right,” He said as another round of coughs went down his chest.

~~~

Steve finally got the notice that he was now on active duty. He was packed up, loaded up, and he and another sailor were in the bird ready to go. The blades were already warming up when he got the call.

 _“Steve?”_ It was a voice he hadn’t heard in a very long while.

“Catherine?”

_“My guy found the freighter.”_

“Where?”

He was out of the helicopter and bursting into the bridge looking for the Admiral before he could even process that he was doing it.

“Sir,” He said. “I have an asset that has located my team.”

“That sounds like good news, sailor. What are you still doing here?”

“Because their last known coordinates were about eighty nautical miles from us, sir.”

The Admiral paused, digesting that information. “What are you asking of me, sailor?”

“To assist in apprehending a ship full of human traffickers – some of which are American citizens – on international waters.”

No one would fight the Admiral if he were trying to save American lives. Before, all the intel they had was they were looking for a fishing boat and it was an issue that would be better handled by the Coast Guard, but now… Now it was a Navy matter. Actions and decisions the Admiral could defend, and Steve knew it.

“What are the coordinates?”

~~~

_“We were there by nightfall.”_

~~~

“Alright, intel says there is a ladder that leads to the deck on the port side of the ship. We’re going in stealth, so we’re making a wet approach. Jones,” He pointed to one of his men, one of the ten he had conscripted to take the ship. They were on a landing boat motoring the last nautical mile or so, as to stay off of any enemy radar. Unless they had military grade equipment, and in that case they should have taken off or flagged them already. “Once you have confirmation that we’re on board, you’re to make your way to the ladder as quietly as you can. We’re going to need to get out of there, and we’re going to need to get out of there fast.

“There are civilians on board, unknown number, and we need to extract them before the Johnson can make its presence known.”

“And then they are going to learn not to mess with the Navy,” One of men said.

“Ooh-rah!” Cheered another – the only other SEAL on board. Parker. He and Steve were partnering up for this mission.

“Ooh-rah!” The rest of men shouted in a whisper.

~~~

_“So you brought a war ship to a gun fight.”_

_“...yes. But they had Danny. And! They brought a bazooka to a gun fight first!”_

_“A bazooka?”_

~~~

There was gunfire, the muted kind, like someone was using a silencer. It was nearby, maybe thirty paces. What they heard louder than that was the guy that hit the wall of the container, supposedly hit. Kono sat up straight at that, and Danny wanted to, but laid back down in pain. It was getting really hard to breathe, and he was sure he was just a few coughs away from a collapsed lung, if he wasn’t there already. She kneeled down, moving to sit him up.

“Do you think you can stand?”

“I’ll do my best. I still got one good leg.”

They could hear the other containers being opened, metal screeching on metal. Then he heard it. The best sound in the world.

Steve’s voice.

He was shushing people, telling them where to go, and Danny, fully relying on both the wall and Kono, called out, “Steve!”

“Shh!” Kono told him.

“I know I’m a bit delirious, but it’s Steve!”

“I know, but still shush!”

The locks on their container started to open and Danny knew it was Steve, he could feel it in his bones. He coughed in anticipation and started to feel a bit light headed with hope. Or maybe it was delirium, he was unsure. The moment the door swung open and there was Steve, oh man that was a sight Danny really needed to put to memory because Steve in tactical gear, hair dripping wet, face paint all over his face, carrying a combat weapon was really, truly a sight to behold.

“Steve,” He said happily.

“Danny,” Steve said, sounding ten types of relieved. He rushed into the container, dropping his weapon on its belt, and cupped Danny’s face in his hands. There was another guy with him, who had turned around, keeping an eye out.

Danny needed to take a moment to thank Ricky Bonaducci because Steve was kissing him. He had a busted lip, a swollen eye, a bruised jaw, he really couldn’t breathe all that well, and his knee was already giving out on him, but Steve was kissing him like he never thought he’d see him again.

He could relate.

“I’m fine, boss,” Kono spoke up, sarcastic. “How are you?”

Danny heard the man at the door chuckle. Steve pulled away from him and, ‘Kono what did you do? He had Steve’s mouth on his again, how dare you?’ smiled at her.

“Are you okay?”

She nodded.

“We need to move,” The other man said.

It was then that another coughing fit came over Danny, causing him to double over. He had Kono and Steve holding him up, but he almost hit the ground.

“He can’t run, Steve,” Kono told him. “He can’t climb stairs or a ladder. He can barely breathe.”

“I’m fine,” Danny lied.

“No you’re not,” Steve said, rubbing a thumb gently over his swollen cheek. Danny’s good knee went weak and later he was going to blame the fever but it was actually the butterflies in his stomach. Steve’s touch was so reverent it almost hurt. Maybe with all the bruises it actually did. Danny didn’t care. “We’ll come up with a different extraction.”

“The helicopter,” The other man said. “Does it work?”

“It’ll be loud,” Kono said. “The head-honcho here took off on it this morning, landing this evening. It can’t go far.”

Oh, it was dark outside the container. When did that happen? When did the helicopter take off? How did he miss a whole day? Did he miss more? What day was it?

~~~

_“You’ll have to tell it from there, babe, because I passed out for a little bit.”_

_“Yeah you did, you-“_

~~~

Danny’s face went white in a heartbeat. His eyes rolled back into his head, and Steve rushed forward to catch him, he went boneless quick, and if it weren’t for Kono who was holding him up too, he would have hit the ground.

“He’s real bad, Steve.”

“We’ve got to move,” Parker whispered to them. “What are my orders?”

Steve licked his lips, trying to adjust Danny against him. “We’ve got to chance it with the helicopter.”

“It’s on the other side of the superstructure,” Parker told him, tone dismissive.

He summoned every memory of Joe White he had, every ounce of benevolent dictator he swore he was at work. “I am aware. No one gets left behind. Are you saying you’re backing down, squid?” Steve asked, voice as authoritive as he could get it. “Or are you going to nut up like the SEAL you are?”

“Nutting up, sir,” Parker told him.

“Good, is the coast clear?”

Kono looked on approvingly. He rose his eyebrows up in recognition and they smirked at one another. Oh, he was so thankful that Kono was here.  
Parker held up a hand as Steve and Kono adjusted Danny between them. Danny was wheezing in a terrifying way, and he was sure them manhandling his abdomen wasn’t doing him any favors, but they needed to get him off this boat. Steve handed Kono his secondary weapon. If he couldn’t have Danny backing him up, he had Kono. Actually...

~~~

_“See?”_

~~~

Steve’s hand went to the coms around his throat, “Everyone, get off the ship, Green 1 and 2 have an alternative extraction. Civilians are the priority.”

Hopefully they got everyone, and if they didn’t, the civilian death count was significantly going to be lowered when the Johnson pulled up alongside them.

“How many hostiles are there, Kono?”

“At least two dozen,” She answered.

Shit. They had only taken out six on the deck, but that left too many unaccounted for. They had a large superstructure between them and their chance of escape.

“Alright, on your call, sailor,” Steve told Parker.

Danny’s head rolled around, like he was trying to regain consciousness, but Steve couldn’t think about that now. They had to go.

They took out another five men on their trek to the front of the ship before they were noticed. Kono ducked from an incoming shot, but was too late; she took one to the arm. Her firing arm was useless while she was holding Danny.

Steve picked him up after that, carrying him bridal style, and he could just hear his complaining now, wanted to hear it, desperate for it. They ran, Parker firing wildly behind them to help them get to the helicopter. Once they were there, they went around the other side, and Steve left Kono to get Danny inside. It was a small thing, not meant for long treks, but it would do the job of getting them to the Johnson.

He leaned around the back of the helicopter, giving Parker cover fire, and was relieved when he ran. Thank god for SEAL training, they all had the same training, the same instincts. Once Parker was opening the helicopter door, helping himself to the controls, Steve was happy to see that the glass was bullet proof. He jumped in, hoping it would take all their weight.

“Let’s hope you didn’t eat a heavy lunch!” Parker called out, thinking the same thing as Steve.

Then, because this op wasn’t going pear-shaped already, Steve saw two men on one of the decks of the superstructure loading a bazooka. They were pointing it straight down at them.

“Parker!” Steve called out. “Get us in the air now.”

“I see it! I see it.”

The helicopter jerked into the air, and Steve felt his stomach give. Kono had Danny lying down, her bent down low to the floor, and Steve watched as the charge was fired and heading towards them.

And, because Steve’s life was one long action movie (he was tired, he was so tired, he wanted to go home, he wanted Danny in the hospital, he wanted his bed, and wanted his children in his arms and never let go) the deck below them exploded just as they lifted off, and the whole helicopter jerked. Beeps and whistles went off and Steve dove for the co-pilot controls, helping Parker keep it steady.

They eventually did, and they eventually made it back to the Johnson and Danny and Kono were taken to med bay all before the Johnson approached the freighter, too busy with a burning bow and dead goons to notice any kind of radar warnings, and demanded they surrender.

The bad guys surrendered and the Admiral and several of the men got condemnations for their service and all was well, but that’s a completely different story.

~~~

_“Yeah, there’s still stuff.”_

_“Ugh.”_

_A smirk._

_“It’s a good thing you cleared your schedule.”_

~~~

Danny was on a helicopter headed back to Oahu when he woke up the first time. Steve was sitting at his feet and Kono was sitting on other side of him, asleep, arm wrapped up in a quick bandage job. When had she hurt her arm?

He looked around a bit, a medic near his head, and some kind of IV hanging up near him.

“Danny,” He heard Steve say. He moved to sit up, to pull the breathing mask he suddenly realized was on his face off his face, “Don’t move, don’t move. You have a collapsed lung and several broken ribs. We’re headed to Tripler now, about an hour out. Don’t move.”

Kono had woken up at the noise and was smiling at him, “Hey, Danny.” She reached forward with her good arm, gripping his hand in hers. He held up a finger, and then moved to his pocket, pulling out a crumpled piece of paper. Kono gasped when she realized what it was. She took it from him with awe.

Steve looked confused, and when Kono looked back down at him, he darted his eyes to Steve in a silent ‘tell him already.’ She smiled, unfolded the paper carefully, and turned it around to show Steve. You couldn’t tell what you were looking at unless you knew what you were looking for on one of those things, but the black, the stringy white lines, the cone it all sat in, it was undeniable what it was.

Steve’s face fell in realization, and then grew in excitement.

“That’s why he’s so beaten,” She said, emotional, hand on her stomach. “He took the beating for us.”

He reached out for her hand again, wanted to say he’d take more for her child, but already felt drowsiness fall over him. Probably some kind of pain pill or maybe it was just pain, he didn’t know.

He did pass out again holding Steve’s hand, so, it wasn’t too bad.

~~~

_“Sap.”_

~~~

They got back to Oahu, and Danny was rushed into the O.R. and if Steve’s heart hadn’t been pulled half way across the Pacific and back already, it was about to do some more traveling.

He was still in his tactical gear and camo (a jacket that wasn’t his that someone threw on his shoulders as he was getting on the helicopter to take Danny home.) He was leaning over himself in the waiting room; just thinking about finding a bathroom to clean himself up in, when they came in, rushing into the waiting room despite nurses insisting they wait.

Grace was the first one to him, Mary and Stan rushing them all into the waiting room with haste. He held her close, kissed the top of her head, and then dropped to his knees for Charlie. He held them close for a moment, then reached up for Jack out of Mary’s arms.

He looked confused, worried, and happy to see Steve all in the same go. He reached out for him and Steve held him to his face, taking in his smell. Grace threw her arms around him again and it was so good. So, so good. It was like he could breathe again, like his muscles were finally relaxing.

“I’m so sorry, Steve,” Mary said first.

He took a deep breath, steadying himself. “He’s in surgery now; we’ll know more when he comes out of it.”

“That’s no-“

“Where’s Nahele?” He asked, looking behind them.

“He was taken,” Grace said.

His heart plummeted. He had just gotten Danny back only to find that his son had been dragged away. “What do you mean?”

“CPS,” Mary said. “Your active duty alert came across their people somehow, it’s an alert set up on their system, I guess? For when foster-parents are booked at HPD and the like?”

“Where is he?”

“Maui,” Grace told him. Like that, part of his heart was here in this hospital, the other on Maui. He couldn't relax yet, he still had missing sailors. Child. His child wasn't in his arms and he had to go. “He called me last night, real late. He was on a plane this morning, and he’s… He’s not answering his phone.”

“They probably took it from him,” Steve said absently, pulling Jack to him. He looked up to his sister. “Why didn’t they take Jack?”

“Because I’m your sister, and, because you’ve petitioned for adoption, they let me keep him,” Mary told him. “You haven’t petitioned for Nahele, so…”

“Right,” Steve said, sighing deeply. Another reason to resent Nahele’s biological father, then. “I’ve got to call Leia. I need a phone.”

Three phones were shoved in his face instantly, and he wasn’t sure whose it was he was frantically trying to get connected to their social worker on. He handed off Jack (who wasn’t quite done being held by his father yet and started to get fussy) back to his sister and began dialing. He called HPD first, asked them to transfer him, and just as he finally got a hold of Leia, Danny’s doctor came in the door of the waiting room.

“Danny Williams?”

Steve pushed the phone towards Stan, “Don’t let her hang up.” Then he pushed himself through the door, pulling the doctor with him. If it was bad news, he didn’t want the kids to hear.

They stood with wide eyes on the other side of the glass anyway, though.

“How is he?”

“I’m glad you got to him when you did, Commander. Another couple more hours and the internal bleeding would have been too severe to do anything about. Surgery went alright, though, but he’s got a serious case of pneumonia, and we need to get his fever down and breathing on his own before we do anything else. We’ve put him under, because there will be quite a bit of pain from the lacerations and bruising on his abdomen. He’s got three broken ribs, and his lung did collapse, but we put in a valve.” He licked his lips, tired from the surgery. Steve couldn’t blame him. “The pneumonia is the worst of it now.”

Relief flooded through him.

“His knee, however,” The doctor continued. “The swelling in his knee will have to go down before we can make any kind of assessment.”

Steve nodded. “Right, but he’s going to be okay?”

“If his fever drops, yes,” He said. “We’re trying to lower his body temperature now, but it was significantly high.” He eyed the kids in the room before he continued. “He can have visitors, but I wouldn’t bring the younger ones to see him just yet. There are quite a few machines.”  
Steve looked to them. Of course. And Charlie couldn’t be around him. He was only six months out from his transplant. He was susceptible to the pneumonia. “Right,” He said again.

“He’s been moved to the ICU when you’re ready.”

“Thank you,” Steve held out his hand to shake it. “Thanks.”

He ran a hand over his face as he headed back into the waiting room. He sniffed and Grace did that move, the one he saw on Danny every day, where she kind took a breath and held it, expecting the worst.

“He’s okay,” He started with, fifty percent for Grace, fifty percent for himself. “He’s got a pretty bad fever, and lots of bruises, a few broken ribs, but he’s okay.”

“Can we see him?”

“I can, soon,” Steve said. “We might have to wait for him to be moved to a regular room before you can see him, okay Gracie?”

She nodded, but she still looked like she was holding her breath. He could relate.

Stan held out the phone, “She’s waiting.”

Steve looked up at him, then to the phone. Leia. Nahele, right. His foster-son. His son.

“Leia, hey,” Steve greeted. “What’s going on, where is he?”

_“I’m so sorry, Steve.”_

“I know, just where is he and what do I have to do to get him back?”

_“I’ve had the paperwork ready since I had to bring him in. I just have to wait for your active duty status to go back to reservist, but even then, the petition will take several days, Steve.”_

“Well get it started, I still want to know where he is.”

_“There’s nothing you can d-“_

“I can make sure he knows he’s not alone!” He shouted, immediately regretting it. “I’m sorry.”

_“...how is Danny?”_

“He’ll be okay. I need to know where my son is, Leia.”

He was met with silence.

“Leia, please.”

_“There are two boy’s homes on Maui. I can’t say more than that.”_

He was getting real tired of red tape. He never had to deal with so much red tape in his life. He was also getting tired of people wanting to help but caught up in that red tape so bad that all they could do was give Steve only a small percentage of help they wanted to. He was never so thankful for means and immunity at work.

It was simple. Nahele belonged with him. How clearer could it get? Why didn't people get that?

“Thank you, Leia,” He said instead.

 _“I wish I could do more,”_ She told him. Steve believed her.

He hung up and wiped a hand down his face. He turned to Grace, “See what you can find on the internet about boy’s homes on Maui. If you can’t, we can call Chin, no problem. Mary,” Mary jumped to attention. “Call Chin. Tell him to get on the governor about getting my reservist status re-invoked.”

“My orders ‘Mander?” Charlie asked.

They had played this game often the last few months, where Steve would give his ‘sailors’ orders to clean up the house quickly. Charlie usually got ‘pick up blocks’ while Grace got ‘gather and separate laundry’ and Nahele got ‘get dinner started’ or the like but still. Charlie stood to attention all the same. He must have had his SEAL face on as he was ordering his family about.

He lowered himself to Charlie’s level. This wasn’t a time for orders; this was a time for family. Steve needed to calm down, “Your orders are to make Danno a get better card, yeah?”

Charlie smiled, then he nodded.

“Stan,” Steve stood back up, “I need you to do something too,” He pulled him aside from the others. Mary was already on the phone, and Grace was intently staring down at her’s, presumably googling what she could.

“Name it,” Stan answered.

“I need you to try to get a hold of Rachel,” He said, biting the bullet.

Stan looked over to his kids, Steve’s kids too, he guessed. He shared them with Stan, and Danny trusted him completely, so should Steve.

He nodded, “Go to Danny.”

Steve nodded, taking a steadying breath. “Thank you.”

Stan nodded in solidarity. Danny was right, he was a good man.

He didn’t know how he made it to the ICU after that. One minute he was giving Grace one last hug, the next he was scrubbing down in a station just outside the ICU. He was still covered in grime from the rescue mission and the nurse wouldn’t let him past her until he had washed up. Honestly, he didn’t mind, it gave him a moment to gather himself.

They made him take off all his gear and then they put him in scrubs and put him in a paper robe, and led him to Danny.

There was an incubator in his mouth. Steve knew he should have been prepared for that, he just wasn’t. He was overwhelmed with... there really wasn't a word. Worry? Relief? Fear? Resilience? Love? Danny was alive, but he was lying there, not moving, not chewing his ear off for only bringing one war ship or letting them take Nahele or a thousand other things Steve couldn't control and it was wrong. It was so very wrong. He needed Danny to be alive, and he was. He needed him to be okay. He wasn't. He was happy and angry and terrified and wishing he could do more, all wrapped up in one.

He sniffed at the door.

“You can sit with him, if you want,” The nurse told him.

He nodded his understanding.

Moving into the room he saw that his legs and body were covered in ice packets. There was a machine watching his temperature and the doctor was right. 104.4 was too high. Steve sat down on the chair next to the bed. Danny’s heart monitor was a steady beep for both of them. He ran his hands over his face again, overwhelmed.

He leaned forward, grabbing Danny’s hand.

“I’m an idiot,” He started. “Here that, Williams? One time only chance you’re going to hear it out of my mouth to your face, I’m an idiot.”

Danny didn’t move, but his heart monitor beeped and Steve squeezed his hand.

“I have to go get Nahele. You understand, I have to go, right?” He felt his face tear at the thought of leaving Danny’s side, but if anyone in this world understood the importance of putting a child first, it was Danny. “But I need you to get better. I need to know you’ll still be here when we get back.”

~~~

_“Hey, hey… I have never been mad at you for going to Nahele.”_

_“Good. I don't think I would have apologized for that one, even if you were.”_

~~~

He was still under his ice blankets, but the hand that Steve was clinging to tightened around his fingers. The machine beeped a new beep and the temperature read ‘104.2.’ His fever was already dropping.

“That’s it, Danny. Keep getting better, okay?” He lifted Danny’s hand, kissed it for good measure, then moved himself so his face could be flat against it. Danny’s fingers absently, minutely caressed him and Steve kissed his palm. “You can do this.”

He sat with him like that until his fever was ‘103.’ Then he leaned down and kissed his too warm forehead.

“We’ll be back, okay?”

...


	19. Chapter Fourteen Part Three

…

He found himself standing outside the waiting room, watching everyone through the glass wall. Stan and Charlie were working on something at one of the tables; Mary and Jack were missing, but Grace… Someone had brought his bag from the helicopter and Grace was sitting in the chair next to it, biting her lip. There were days he could look at that little girl and see no trace of Danny on her face. She was tan, brunette, dark eyes; even the shape of her face was different. Then there were moments like this, moments where she was fiddling with the strap on his bag, chewing on her lip, absently bouncing her leg, that there was no doubt in his mind that she was his daughter.

He went inside.

“Steve!” She called out as soon as she saw him, jumping up, and waiting for news. “How is he?”

“He’s doing good, his fever was already dropping when I was in there. They’ve got all this ice on him.”

She nodded, “Good. When can I see him?”

He sniffed again, “When he’s moved out of the ICU. They said that would probably be by tonight.”

“Steve,” He heard behind him. Mary stood with Jack, presumably fresh from a diaper change. 

The little boy reached out for him, and Steve took him without protest. Jack dove his head into Steve’s neck and Steve let himself have a moment to enjoy it. This little boy was a fifth of his heart. He pulled back to look at Steve and smacked him in the face, wearing an adorable frown. He knew Steve was upset, he didn’t know why, but he still wanted to fix it. Seven months old and already taking care of his old man. Steve pulled his head forward and kissed his forehead.

“The governor is already working on your reserve status,” She told him.

“I found one of the boy’s homes, but not an address,” Grace spoke up. “But Chin is working on sending you the addresses for both of them,” She motioned back towards his bag. “I fished out your cell phone out of your bag and it’s charging over there.”

He watched her for a moment, a moment long enough for her to fidget under his gaze. She was growing up. She wanted to do more, he could tell, but she was inhibited by her age. She knew it too, frustrated with it. The fact she was so aware of that sent a wave of sadness over him. She was so smart and so brave and so good under pressure. 

“What?”

“You’re growing up,” He told her. “You’re getting so tall.”

A grin grew on her face, a twinkle in her eye. How could anyone ever doubt she was Danny’s daughter with his facial expressions etched into her face? 

“Tall like my father?”

“Yeah,” It was supposed to be a joke, and Steve did smile, but he cupped her chin, made sure he had her eyes on his. “Yeah, tall like your father.”

She seemed to realize the implications of his declaration. Her face went slack with the comprehension. She was so, very smart, it didn’t matter what her grades said, she was quick witted and bright and she understood things that were much bigger than she was.

He barely had any warning when she threw his arms around his chest. One arm heavy with Jack, he threw his other around her. He bent down kissing her head again.

“You’re going to Maui,” She said, face halfway buried in his chest. She was playing with Jack’s sock covered foot; he was reaching down trying to pat her face too. 

“I have to,” He told her.

“I know.”

~~~ __

_“I didn’t know that the joke…”_

_“That it means more than we let on?”_

_“Yeah.”_

_“Not everything is meant to be shared with everyone else all the time, Danno.”_

_“I guess she gets that from you.”_

__~~~

He hadn’t even changed out of his scrubs when he landed on Maui. He took his service bag into the airport bathroom and realized he didn’t have any civilian clothing. Camo it was then. He rented a car and headed towards the first boy’s home. Marching right up to the gates, he didn’t even think. He didn’t think about rules, and about how children in this situation were also sometimes in this situation to protect them from their parents, and how a stressed out man in camouflage pounding on the front gates could be construed as dangerous. 

The dangerous thing was that this home looked more juvie-adjacent than a home. There were bars on the windows and a ten foot gate that surrounded the building. It looked like an institution. He hoped this wasn’t the home Nahele was in. There was a parking lot, and a gate he had to let himself through, but he made it to the front door.

“Sir,” A man stopped him. “Sir, you need to calm down.”

“A boy, do you have a boy named Nahele Huikala here?”

“I cannot share that information with you, sir. Not without a court order.”

“Bullshit you can’t! I’m Five-0!”

“You’re also way out of line!”

“If he’s here, can you at least tell him Steve’s on the island and that Danny is okay?”

“You know that I cannot share outside-“

“Bullshit!” Steve roared again.

He was escorted back to his car after that, where he took deep, soothing breaths before he pulled out his phone and started driving towards the other home. No matter which one he was at, he at least needed to know where they were, where his son might be. He really needed some steadying factor right now, he felt so lost at sea. Usually he’d call Danny, pick a fight and they’d argue for a bit and he’d feel better, but that was not an option.

So, he called Grace, let her know he had landed, found the first home, and was looking for the second. She let him know that Stan had taken Charlie and Jack home, but she was staying there with Mary, all night if she had to.

She was so brave.

_“He’s going to be mad if he wakes up and you don’t have Nahele,”_ She told him.

“I know, I can’t even keep our kids under our roof, right?”

_“No… that something happened, and neither of you could have done anything about it. He hates when things are out of his control, you know.”_

…she was right. Danny often called him a control freak, (and to some extent he was right, he’ll concede to that assessment) but Danny hated not knowing what was going to happen, what the game plan was, or anything resembling a vague destination. Got anxious every time, got nervous, got argumentative, called Steve a ‘jerk’ or ‘an animal’ or a thousand other things that made Steve find him endearing. 

Steve lost his innocent factor a long time ago. People would take one look at his tattoos, his posture, his combat boots, learn that he was a SEAL and suddenly he was the most dangerous thing in the room and they should proceed with caution. Danny looked at him and saw a marshmallow, and a half-baked cookie and a thousand other things that meant soft and kind and sweet and… Oh, what did that say about Danny that he saw straight through the rough, tough demeanor and saw the real him? 

Danny was right, he was so right, he was such an idiot. 

The second home actually looked like a home. There were still bars on the windows, but there was no fence in sight. It was a large home on the outskirts of a neighborhood and Steve took another steading breath.

He still pounded on the front door, though. He couldn’t help himself, desperate to get to Nahele. The door opened easily. It was a portly woman, blocking his way into the house.

“Can I help you?”

“I’m looking for a foster-child by the name of Nahele Huikala?”

“Who are you?” She countered.

“Commander Steve McGarrett, ma’am. I’m his foster-father.”

“If you’re his foster father, then why is he here?”

“There was an emergency an-“ He saw Nahele walk through the entrance way behind her. “Nahele!” 

“Steve!” He rushed to the door, but the woman did not move, blocking them access to each other.

“He can’t go with you,” She warned. “Not without the proper paper work.”

“How’s Danny?” Nahele asked, ignoring her.

“He’s in the hospital but he’s going to be okay,” He turned to the woman, “I understand you can’t… until you have orders… Can I hug him, at least?”

“I’m sorry, sir, that’s against protocol.”

“‘Protocol,’” He scoffed. “He’s my foster-son! He shouldn’t be here, there was just a misunderstanding!”

“That’s what a whole lot of fathers say,” She said, unbelieving.

“Ms Kyla, please,” Nahele begged. “He’s right. It’s a misunderstanding!”

“I’m sorry, Nahele,” She said seriously. She sounded genuine, voice turning soft, turning towards Nahele. “You know the rules.”

His shoulders fell. 

“I’m working on getting you back,” Steve told him, rules be damned. “I’m not leaving Maui until I can take you with me.”

“But Danny…”

“Danny will understand this.”

Nahele’s jaw dropped. He looked a bit floored, like he wasn’t expecting that.

“I’m not leaving this island unless it’s with you, you got it?”

He nodded. Ms Kyla looked at Steve with a brand new light after Nahele looked floored, maybe something in their voices or something on their faces, but she looked like she changed her mind about something. She took a deep breath and then she rolled her eyes.

“Fine!” She said, turning to Nahele. “You have two minutes out there with him.” Then she turned to Steve with a pointed finger. “I’m giving you the two minutes as long as you don’t just take him or come storming back here without paperwork or his social worker, you got it? And I don’t want to see you again without either one or both of those things.”

“Yes ma’am,” He nodded. He was unsure if the camo helped or hurt.

Nahele rushed out the door and Ms Kyla shut it behind him, Steve pulled the boy to him quickly.

Speaking of kids getting taller, Nahele had had a growth spurt in the last few months. Their faces were almost even, but Nahele buried his nose in Steve’s neck. 

“I’m going to get you home,” He whispered. “Okay?”

Nahele nodded against his neck.

Steve pulled back, his hands on either side of Nahele’s face. “Are you okay though?” He ran his hands down his arms. “I know I agreed to that woman’s conditions, but if you’re not okay-“

“It’s not so bad,” Nahele told him. “It’s kind of like camp where all the other campers hate me.”

“They aren’t hurting-“

“No! There are rules about that, and none of them have touched me.”

“Good. What about food? Are you eating? Do-“

“I’m eating, Steve, don’t worry. I just want to leave.”

“I know… I know.”

~~~ __

_“We were on Maui for four days.”_

_To be fair, the amount of tourist Maui t-shirts you brought home was impressive.”_

_“I didn’t want to walk around in camis for who knows how long, okay?”_

_“I’m not saying it was a bad thing!”_

_“You were implying it.”_

_“No I was not, I was just saying that it was impressive that you were there for four days and you came home with ten new shirts.”_

_“I didn’t know how long I’d be there.”_

_“You know there are these things called ‘laundromats,’ right?”_

_“Daaannnyyy…”_

_“Alright, alright, let me talk for a while. The lady still wants to know how we got together.”_

__~~~

He really wanted to get out of the hospital. He had two surgeries, one on his lungs, the other on his knee (and he’d have to have another one at some point in the future,) a tube down his throat, a way too high fever, and he had a tube sticking out of his chest he had removed the day before. He was done, he was tired, and he wanted to go home.

He wanted Steve.

Kono was okay, she and Adam had visited several times. The whole ordeal made them cling to one another and Danny was jealous; Adam usually had a protective hand around Kono’s stomach. She’d roll her eyes at him, but didn’t make him move his hands. They were going to be good parents, Danny was certain.

( _“We just have to find Gabriel,”_ Adam said, worry evident in his voice.

Danny’s first case back after his incident, they did. He actually had some bad-guy-stock in the human trafficking ring, and they had put a major dent in his investment and he got sloppy. With both Danny and Kono out of the field for months, they had called in a woman from San Francisco to temporarily fill up their numbers. She had strings on the mainland and poof, he was tracked down. He’s was put in a Colorado Super Max. Adam, apparently, calls every week for an update on him.

Gabriel or not, bad guys kept coming, and they kept putting them away.) 

Grace was very clingy. If she wasn’t at school, (and she threw a fit about Danny making her go, too) she was by his side. Stan told him she had called Rachel and that she didn’t answer and Danny’s blood pressure went up. It went up so high that a nurse came in to check on him. Grace was already hurting from Rachel’s disappearing act, and she, in one day, felt her whole support system fall out from under her. 

Danny had vowed never to hate Rachel, for Grace and Charlie’s sakes, but he was very close that day.

(He was on the phone with her within in the hour while Grace was at school and yelled at her for good measure. He yelled so loud and so much that the nurse came in and threatened to take his cell phone away. It didn’t matter because Rachel made plans to come back to Honolulu the following week. His baby was hurting, and he made sure she knew it.)

He talked to Steve on the phone more than once a day, trying to calm him down, trying to get him to focus on Nahele, knowing he was probably climbing walls with nothing to do, trying to convince him that not leaving Maui was the best move for Nahele. He didn’t know if he succeeded, because Steve called often.

The last memory of Steve’s face was up close, and he couldn’t quite tell if Steve had actually kissed him or if it was a delusion of the fever. Either way, it wasn’t a conversation Danny wanted to have on the phone.

~~~ __

_“For the record, I did kiss you.”_

_“Yeah?”_

_“Yep.”_

_“Mmm.”_

__~~~

Nahele was bombarded with hugs the moment he walked into Danny’s hospital room. Grace got to him first, then Kono, then Chin, he took a happy-to-see-him Jack and squeezed him tight. Jerry and Adam and Stan all got a hug in and Nahele pulled back from all of them, overwhelmed. Charlie, though, Charlie was biting his lip, staring up at him.

“What’s wrong?”

“Where’d you go?”

“I had to go to another house while Danno was sick,” He told him.

“I didn’t want you to leave,” Charlie said, voice small. “I missed you.”

He lowered himself to Charlie’s level, arm not cradled around Jack open for a hug, “I missed you too. Now get over here, foster-brother hug circle.”  
Charlie grinned, and then went happily.

Danny’s heart soared. His boys (and they were all _his boys,_ Steve’s feelings about him be damned) were all here and they were all safe and there was Grace, laying herself down on Nahele’s back, throwing her own arms around them saying _“foster-sibling hug”_ and then Danny held out his own arms.

Nahele took a steadying breath, handing Jack back off to Steve. (It had been days, too, since the baby had seen him, either.) He lowered himself down to Danny, taking the hug.  
“I’m glad you’re okay,” He said, sitting back up.

Danny still had a hand on the back of his neck, “I’m sorry you went through all that.”

“It’s okay.”

“No it’s not,” Danny said. “They took you from your home because of logistics. We’ve already decided I’m taking off work when Steve goes for reserves training.”

Nahele stood.

“And if he gets deployed?”

“I think I’ve pissed too many higher ups off to get deployed again,” Steve said with a smirk towards Danny, throwing an arm around Nahele. “And if I do, we’ll talk about it then.”

Danny couldn’t help the smile that grew on his face at getting his first look at Steve since the helicopter. “Hey, you.” 

“Hey,” Steve said with a matching smile. It was relief and sweet and joy and longing all over his face. The longing was different, it was new, he hadn’t seen it since before New Year’s, and Danny was starting to think that kiss in the container was real.

Kono chuckled. Chin rolled his eyes. They shared a saccharine look. Danny chose to ignore them; Steve was looking at him like the softie he really was.

“How about we take all the foster-siblings out to lunch?” Kono asked Adam, clapping her hands together. 

“I’ll buy,” Stan offered. Stan was such a good guy.

They filed out after that, (Jack actually delayed them all, needing time with Steve, demanding the right to cling to Steve for quite a while) with Steve doing a second check with Nahele. 

“You okay?”

“Hey, free food!” Nahele rolled his eyes. “I’m good.”

“Bring me a bacon cheeseburger!” Danny called after them.

Grace, of course, was right at the head of his bed when he did. She narrowed her eyes at him, “You don’t need a bacon cheeseburger right now.”

“Cheeseburger,” he said, drawing out the word while she rolled her eyes at him.

Danny scrunched his face at her, and she returned the gesture. 

“Hey, Danno loves you. Okay, Monkey?”

She smiled a teary smile, “I love you too, Danno.”

He smiled at her, and then they were all gone.

All except Steve.

The moment they were alone, the moment the door clicked shut, Steve was on him, hands on both sides of his face, his mouth already open. That first kiss (well, second –first, if you included the false-start) was too hard and too quick and Danny wasn’t all that prepared for it to happen and they didn’t quite get in sync before Steve pulled back. It wasn’t the best kiss, but it was Steve, and that made it one of his favorites.

“Hey,” He said again.

“Hi,” Danny said back with a soft smile, breathless. 

Steve leaned down again, slower this time, gentler, and Danny was lost in it. He raised his arm, the one still connected to the IV, to the back of Steve’s head, holding him close, letting him know that he was right here, that he kept his promise, that he wasn’t planning on going anywhere.

It was a reassuring kiss for Danny too. That he was alive, that his family had been waiting for him, happy to have him home, that this thing with Steve still had a chance.  
But he needed to be sure. He took one, last, long kiss before he pushed Steve’s face away. He kept his hand on the side of his face, the back of his hands running down a scruffy chin. Looks like someone forgot to shave this morning (or the last several.) Danny smiled.

“As much as I would love to keep kissing you, you really shouldn’t kiss me again until you mean it,” Danny said. Not ‘unless,’ not ‘if you don’t,’ but _‘until.’_ Danny had never felt so certain that this was in their future, and wouldn’t let go until it was. Even then, he’d hold on with both hands and let Steve have the wheel.

Steve looked down at him, his face still in Steve’s hands, with wonder. Then he blinked once, twice, his face turned blank. Danny couldn’t read him and he bit his lip in the wait.

When Steve leaned back down, his eyebrows went up, his mouth fell open, and man that kiss? That kiss was magnificent. It was Steve saying he was ready. It was Danny saying he was there to catch him.

It was the start of something bigger than them, something they would fight for. Each other, their family, and their future.

“Why does it take bodily harm of someone you love for you to listen to me?”

Steve ducked his head with a grin, “I’m stubborn?”

“You’re telling me. I’m am all in, babe, I am, I want this, but on one condition,” Danny said, pulling back.

“What? Anything,” Steve said instantly.

“I want to adopt Jack with you.”

Steve blinked again, “Really? We just started this…”

“Steve,” He said, pulling on Steve’s face. “We’ve been together for a long time, we just didn’t know it.”

~~~ __

_A laugh._

_“What?”_

_“That is, word for word, what your daughter said.”_

_A smile._

_“Yeah, well… it’s true.”_

_“Just…”_

_“Yeah?”_

_“You started your story with Hurricane Fiona?”_

_“Yeah, it was like a month later…”_

__~~~ ****

**The beginning. Kind of. It counts, Steven, let me tell the story how I wanted to in the beginning!**

****~~~

“I was taking a shower!” 

Grace was a few steps behind him, “Danno told me to figure it out!”

Nahele turned around to face her. “He meant wait your turn!”

“I’m first in the shower because of my hair!” She countered, “It takes longer!” 

“That was before the second bathroom!” He argued again. “If you want the first shower, wake up first!” 

Danny relaxed where he stood, willing his still tender knee to unwind. It was just the same old bathroom fight again. Steve, however, still seemed high strung. 

“Hey hey hey!” Steve tried to settle them. “Stop it! Stop.” Both teenagers settled down and turned to look at him. “What was that crash! Why did you scream?”

“She came into the bathroom and flushed the toilet,” Nahele said. “You know that makes the water icy! I jumped and all her shampoo bottles fell!” 

“Danno told me to figure it out!” She paused. “And it’s like four bottles!”

“Try seven, I counted.” 

Danny ran a hand over his face before looking over at Steve; he looked frustrated that this was the topic for a fight, yet again, but Danny could only grin. Puberty fueled teenage sibling fights were something he never thought he’d have outside of his two story and stuffed to the brim with siblings childhood, and it was something he never thought Grace would have.

It was not that long ago that he was a walking dictionary picture definition of miserable, and while things had gotten better in the years since he’d moved to Hawaii (don’t tell Steve,) misery had never really lifted off his shoulders, following him around like a personal little rain cloud.

He glanced up at the clock on the wall in the living room, still steadily ticking away, and then through the kitchen to the outside where it was still very much raining, and he took a deep breath. 

Of course, Grace beat him to it.

“Why are you wet?” She asked.

“What?”

“You’re wet.”

“So?” Nahele asked.

“He’s wet all over his front!” She said, arm waving out in front of her in his direction, like the little future detective Danny was dreading she’d be. Danny looked down, his boxers were soaking wet. But Grace wasn’t done. “Steve is still in his swim trunks.”

“So?” Nahele asked again.

She rolled her eyes and smacked his arm lightly. “They were just making out!”

Danny sighed. They had agreed that they were going to wait on telling them that they were together until Jack’s mother signed her end of the paperwork. He bit his lip and looked over at Steve. Steve was already smirking, like the jerk he was. 

“Yeah, what of it?” Steve asked, grinning up at the kids.

Grace squealed, and then she stopped herself. “You’ve made out before! Is it for real this time?”

Both teenagers looked so invested, like all their hope was dangling on a thread. Danny would’ve laughed if he wasn’t already pinching his nose between his fingers. 

“Yes,” Steve answered her. 

She squealed again and they both congratulated them and jumped up and down for a bit and Nahele realized he was standing in a towel with soap in his hair and Grace started complaining again and then Charlie came out of his room, complaining that Jack was shaking his crib and then school was cancelled because of the Hurricane and they stayed in and snuggled down into the couch and watched Die Hard and ordered pineapple pizza ( _“Really? You’re going to subject me to this? I’m your boyfriend! Don’t you want to make me happy?” “You are happy, and pineapple is good for you.” “Not my taste buds.” “I’ll give you something your taste buds like later.” “Oh my god!” “Gross!”_ )

Except no one was mopey. 

~~~ __

_“So, doc. Any more advice for us?”_

_“Well, I would like you to keep my number, in case something comes up again.”_

_“Like?”_

_“Like Rachel leaving without warning again, or Nahele being pulled out of your house, of even if you’re deployed, Commander. If it gets too hard, I’d like to be a resource to help you and your children through it.”_

_“Yeah, yeah.”_

_“That’s a good thing to keep around, ya’ know?”_

_“You are going to send your recommendation for Nahele?”_

_“Yes, after I send my evaluation for Charlie and Grace.”_

_“Okay. Can you give us any hints?”_

_A smile._

_“I’m sorry. But there’s too much red tape.”_

_A grin._

_A smirk._

_“Right.”_

_“Anything else? There’s not exactly a handbook for our family, ya’ know?”_

_“I’m pretty sure you can handle anything. Your situation is unique, sure, but… just know you can do this, and I’m here if you need me.”_

_~~~_


	20. Chapter Fifteen

~~~ ****

**Present day**

****~~~

“That red tape comment was a hint, right?” Danny asked, getting in the car.

“That’s what I took it as.”

“Good,” Danny said. He took a deep breath and let it out, puffing up his cheeks.

“I thought you were going to tell her…”

Danny rolled his eyes, “We were pushing time as it was. Besides, you’re right, not everything needs to be shared with everyone all the time.”

Steve reached out for Danny’s hand, pulling it up and kissing it, lightly, sweetly, and Danny couldn’t help but melt a little.

~~~ ****

**Danny’s first night home from the hospital**

****~~~

Jack was warm on his chest, sleeping deeply and soundly. Danny leaned forward, taking in his smell and kissing his head. He was going to be his son and he couldn’t wait.

“This will probably be his first good night’s sleep in weeks,” Steve said, throwing the cushions on his side of the bed back. Danny was already in bed with his knee propped up, and had been for an hour at Steve’s insistence, but when Jack started crying he demanded to hold his baby.

“Poor baby,” Danny said, holding a steady hand on Jack’s back.

Steve slid over to him, careful of his knee. He placed his hand over Danny’s on Jack’s back and nuzzled his face into the side of Danny’s face.

“I’ll call the lawyer tomorrow, get the paperwork started,” He said. He took a deep breath. “Are you sure? I mean I am, but you don’t have to-“

Danny turned his head to be face to face. “Yes I do.” It was that simple, too.

Steve smiled slowly, then pushed up to kiss him, nice and chaste, but the toes on Danny’s good leg curled.

There was knock at the door and they pushed away from each other.

“Hey,” Nahele started. “Someone couldn’t sleep and came into my room.”

He had a sleepy Charlie by the hand. Charlie was rubbing at his eyes.

“What’s wrong, Hammerhead?” Danno asked, trying not to jostle Jack too much.

“I missed you,” He whispered.

“Do you want to sleep in here with me tonight?”

He nodded and sniffed and started to climb over the end of the bed.

“Careful of his knee, remember!” Steve said, reaching out and worried. He scooted away a bit, “Come sleep up here.”

Charlie went happily, snuggling down between the two of them, pushing back and curling into Steve like he was a cute little baby tea spoon. He reached out and started running a finger along Jack’s arm. Danny eyed Steve at that.

“Yes, I do.”

Steve smiled widely, pulling Charlie close to him, probably a preemptive move to keep him from Danny’s knee.

Nahele stood awkwardly in the doorway, “Well, aright-“

“Hey,” Steve called out. Then he patted the bit of bed behind him. “You’re welcome to…”

“Really?” He looked so eager.

“Yeah,” Steve told him, serious. “Danno’s not the only one that’s been through an ordeal, you know.”

Nahele grinned, padding his way over to Steve’s side of the bed (he really was like a mouse in his socks, even Steve, as light footed as he was, still made the floorboards creak in their room) and laid down, snuggling into the comforter.

“I’ve got everyone home,” Steve said happily.

“You’re missing one,” Came Grace’s voice from the door.

Danny lifted his head at her voice, and then he threw his arm out wide for her. “Oh, come on, this bed is big enough.”

She smiled widely and moved to snuggle down into her father’s side, happy and content.

“I was scared, you know? When you were gone. I tried not to be,” Grace said quietly. “But I was.”

“It’s okay to be scared,” Danny told her. “But I’m not going to stop fighting as long as it means I get to come back to this.”

The six of them, curled up in a huge bed (and Steve had called it ridiculous, hah,) everyone safe, everyone healing, everyone close. This was his family and he wasn’t about to stop fighting for it.

Oh, thank Ricky Bonaducci.

~~~ ****

**The future**

****~~~

Nahele couldn’t believe his luck. He had heard horror story after horror story about kids in the system. Warning stories and stereotypes. The statistics for this sort of thing just weren’t in his favor. And yet… a ridiculous “It’s A Boy” banner hung across the bottom of the lanai’s roof, there were balloons everywhere, his family scattered around the yard, and Nahele was officially adopted. The day was easily making the top five of his favorite days.

He could have done without the sudden stomach bug that hit him as they were leaving the courthouse.

“How are you doing?” Danny asked him, handing him a gatorade. They had made him sit down in the shade and he was happy, watching everyone.

“Better,” He told him. “I think it’s passed too, it’s so random.”

“Well,” Danny said, leaning down and hugging him from behind. “It wouldn’t really be official without the Williams Grandkid Special, now would it?” Nahele laughed, remembering Jack’s Adoption Day. Danny then kissed the side of his face and moved to sit down next to him. “No really, how are you doing?”

Nahele smiled wide, ready for this, thankful his new father had given him the perfect opening, “I’m doing great, Danno.”

Danno blinked, then realized, then smiled. It was the first time he had called him ‘Danno’ out loud and they both knew it. Danno’s face got emotional really quick and he leaned forward and Nahele reached out to him, and they met in an awkward hug. They were both still sitting, but Danno was holding on tight.

He pulled back, taking Nahele’s face in his hands, and kissed him all over in quick, ridiculous succession.

“Hey,” Nahele complained, but he didn’t really mean it, not today. “I thought Steve was going to be the embarrassing, kissing dad.”

“Well you’ve got two, now.”

“Yeah,” Nahele smiled, excited by the notion. He sat back in his chair, satisfied. “Yeah I do.”

Steve took the moment to walk up behind Danno, mimicking the same backward hug that Nahele just received. He kissed Danno’s temple and Danno leaned into it and Nahele smiled at them. They were so happy today because of him. They were happy because he was theirs.  He did that.

Steve stood back up, but still leaned heavily on the back of Danno’s chair, “You feeling better?”

“Yeah, thanks dad.”

Danny raised an eyebrow, checking out Steve’s reaction, but they had had their ‘oh my god we’re using the ‘d-word’ now’ moment earlier at the courthouse after Nahele had gotten sick. Steve only smiled wider.

“Good.”

“Williams Grandkid Special, I’m tellin’ ya’.”

(Grandma Williams was actually _estatic_ to hear Nahele had gotten sick. She and Grandpa Williams had made the flight specifically for all this, for his Adoption Day, even though they had been here the month before for their anniversary.

Nahele felt overwhelmed at the acceptance, but blamed it on the stomach bug, if anyone asked.)

“Now, it’s not some magical thing, Danny… it’s nerves-“

“Okay, I’d believe ‘nerves’ if it was just Nahele, but it was Grace! It was Eric! It was Abigail’s boys! I was there for all of those and it happened, Steve!”

“Okay, but it’s still-“

“You were there with Jack, okay? They are babies, they don’t have nerves.”

“But babies know and pick up on their parent’s nerves and react accordingly, it’s probably even just jostling them around-“

“I asked Stan!” Danny said, raising his voice. “Even Charlie did it to them! All four of our children, Steven.”

“But-“

Oh no, they were at it again. Nahele watched them ping pong back and forth, arguing their same old argument. They might have different topics every time, but it was the same conversation every time. (Grace explained it to him, once. They were Steve picking on Danny, pushing at him, testing him, asking _“Are you really going to stay even if you get fed up with me?”_ and it was Danny answering _“Yes, you animal, I’m here to stay, I’m not going anywhere, and listen to me you are wrong, you’re wrong about thinking I’d leave and you’re wrong about whatever topic we’re yelling at each other about.”_

Nahele felt safe every time they started off on one of their arguments.)

“Oh, come on, dad, let me have this,” Nahele complained. He wondered if he could push and test now, the way Steve does.

Steve paused, did that thing with his jaw that said ‘yeah I know I’m beat but I’m not ready to admit it yet.’ Danny, however, threw his arms up excitedly.

“Oh look at that, Steven! I like him, we’re keeping him,” Then he pointed to Nahele, “We’re keeping you.”

Steve narrowed his eyes at him, and Nahele grinned back, trying to copy every innocent smile Grace had ever thrown his way.

Then Kono plopped down next to Danny, waving her hand to try to cool herself off. She was in the first part of her third trimester. Nahele was sure that meant something to other people, but to Nahele it meant ‘she’s really, finally starting to show.’

“Do I need to move a fan out here?” Steve asked, already standing up straighter, ready to go.

“Nah,” She waved him off. “I wouldn’t say no to some cold water, though.”

He winked at her, “On it.” He squeezed Nahele’s shoulder on the way into the house. Nahele never thought he’d have this.

“Hey, Danny,” Kono said. “I wanted to ask you something.”

“Okay.”

“But I don’t know if now is the right time…”

“…okay…”

“I don’t want to steal any sort of thunder.”

“Steal away,” Nahele told her. She looked over her shoulder at him and grinned.

“You sure?”

He nodded. “If it’ll help get people off thinking about me getting sick, I’m all for it.”

She grinned again, winked at him, and then turned to Danny. “You know how me and Adam have been fighting over names since we found out it’s a boy?”

“Yeah,” Danny said. “You only call me and rant at me for an hour every time you do.”

She paused, then she waved her hand, “Regardless, I think we have come to a compromise.”

“Yeah?”

“Yep,” She said, popping the ‘p.’ “I wanted a family name, and he wanted a family name, but both of us wanted something from our own family lines and then it hit me!” She smacked Danny’s arm. “I have more family than just blood relatives! I’ve got all of you! Adam agreed.”

“You want me to help you narrow it down?”

“No,” She said, biting her lip. “If it’s okay with you, we’d like to name him ‘William.’ I mean, you are a pretty big reason why he’s still a possibility.”

Danny sat very still for a long time.

Kono was worrying on her lip, “If you’re not-“

“Hey Chin Ho!” He called out into the yard, loud and brash. Everyone in the yard turned to him; Chin barely caught the football that Grace had thrown at him. “You may get to be Godfather, but I get the kid’s name!”

Kono laughed and the yard turned to look at Adam and Steve came out of the house with a large glass of ice water.

“What did I miss?” He asked, handing her the glass.

“Danno’s getting a baby named after him,” Nahele told him.

Danny nodded enthusiastically.

“I think he’s cool with it,” Nahele observed, winking back at his Aunt.

“it’s just that you’ve been so wonderful with all my worries, and letting me rant at you, and helping me deal with a million other things I feel utterly unprepared for. Plus, you’re kind of important to me.”

“Oh come on,” Danny said, reaching out. “This kid is going to have a badass mother!” She grew a satisfied smirk on her face. “Plus, I just have experience, that’s all you think my ‘great knowledge’ is. You’ll get there too.” Her smirk turned into a smile.

Nahele felt the chair bounce down as Steve leaned on his chair, “I felt overwhelmed too and now I have four kids. You can do this, no problem.”

Danny shared a look with Steve over Nahele’s head, another one of those ‘long conversations in a single look’ looks.

“Probably even better than us,” Danny told her.

~~~ ****

**2012**

****~~~

He didn’t know if he could do this, he really couldn’t. It was his absolute worst fear. Losing Grace, losing access to her, losing the ability to see her, not being able to be there when she needed him… it was his worst fear and Rachel knew it and still she served him papers.

How much more did he have to do to prove to Rachel that, while they may have failed, he would never, ever give up on their little girl? They had to talk, they had to communicate, and yet here they were talking through lawyers again.

There was no way he couldn’t be a dad. He knew the moment he held Grace for the first time that his entire life had been leading up to him being a dad. He was born for it. He had been through some tough things, he had learned and grown, he was even granted a little nephew that he got to practice on.

‘Father,’ was always going to be the first word that came to mind when he thought about himself. Always.

But fighting Rachel… and losing? That’d be worse. He’d fight for his child, of course he would, but if he went to the mat and lost? How could he ever recover? It was too uncertain, too up in the air, and it was giving him panic attacks.

He didn’t know what he was going to do.

He walked into HQ, dead set on doing some paper work just to clear his mind for a bit when he noticed that Joe was in Steve’s office. Steve was on his phone with someone. He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and when he retrieved it he saw that it was Steve.

He answered with a grin. This was just the sort of distraction that he needed.

“Hello, Steven.”

“Hey, Danny, I need to tell you something.”

“Well, I’m right here!” He said, grinning at his friend’s flunder.

“What?”

“I’m here, I’m outside,” He started waving his hand. “Hey!” Steve saw him and his jaw did that thing that Danny was fond of. It always showed up with Steve had realized Danny had gotten the upper hand. “Yeah hi!”

He watched as Steve hung up the phone, and headed out to greet him.

“Hey Joe,” He nodded up at the man.

“Danny,” He nodded back.

“So what do you need to tell me?”

“Joe’s taking me to Shellburne.”

Danny’s eyebrow rose as he turned on Joe, “For real this time?”

“Yep,” Joe nodded.

“Because my boy’s chain has been yanked around this Shellburne business enough-“

“Danny, Danny!” Steve interrupted. “It’s fine, I’m a grown up.”

“Well,” Danny said, throwing his arms out in a hug. “Be safe, alright? Call me when you land?”

Steve squeezed him tight, “You could come with me?”

“Nah,” Danny told him, pulling out of the hug. “You’re a grown up, remember? Besides, I'm proud of you for telling me and everything. Call me if you need me, but I’ve got someone’s paperwork to do.”

“Hey,” Steve countered. “I do my own paperwork!”

“I know you do, I’m very proud of you,” He told him. “I was talking about Kono.”

They both grinned at each other, fond of the joke, fond of Kono, and fond of each other.

“Alright,” Steve said. “I’ll call you when I land and when I’m coming back, alright?”

“Yeah, yeah!” Danny called already heading towards his office, Steve heading towards the doors.

“Hey,” Steve said, turning on his heels, throwing a finger up like he had forgot something. Danny rested on his door. “Speaking of paperwork, I left something for you on your desk.”

“If it’s requisition forms, Steven, I swear to god-“

He chuckled, “it’s not, I promise. But… look it over, yeah?”

“Alright, whatever. If its requisition forms you are buying me a meal.”

“Is that all it takes to get you to put out?”

“Oh, you want me to put out?”

“Ladies!” Joe interrupted. “We’ve got a plane to catch.”

“Right, bye Danno. Look it over!”

Danny waved his hand back behind him, already heading towards his desk.

There was a small stack of papers, and by the time Danny started going through them, he realized what they were.

**“Statistics on Single Father Homes Winning Custody.”**

**“Tips For Single Parents In Custody Cases.”**

**“What NOT to Tell Your Child’s Other Parent During A Custody Battle.”**

**“Single Father’s Raising Daughters.”**

It went on and on. Several different packets of documents that Steve had obviously spent time and effort into looking up, reading, and printing out (and Danny knew how much Steve hated using his printer) all these articles for him. Danny sat back at the realization that his friend wanted him to stay, wanted Grace to stay.

It was in that moment he realized that he wanted to stay too. He wanted Gracie growing up around people like Steve. Brave, strong, and yet the sweetest guy in the world. He needed her to see that people could be kind and brave and he needed her to be around lots of people that obviously loved her.

This really had become his home. (Don’t tell Steve.)

Danny bounced the pile of paper on the desk, straightening out the pages so they’d all be together again. He sat it down with surety, mind made up. He was going to fight for his daughter, he could do it, he really could, knowing he had Steve in his corner cheering him on.

On top of the pile of paper was one, single, yellow post-it note.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> If you've made it this far, I love you.
> 
> (There's more to this 'verse, so be sure to watch out for some more. There's two more things that are significantly shorter, but finished and will be posted soon. Anything/everything else is up in the air.)
> 
> Also, if you think this needs another tag, please let me know.


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